Mobile media authority M:Metrics today released its first ever measurement of mobile social networking, revealing that 12.3 million consumers in the United States and Western Europe accessed a social networking site with their mobile device in the month of June.
Not unexpectedly, America had the largest audience for mobile social networking sites with 7.5 million (3.5% of all subscribers) accessing a social networking site from their device at least once in June. The U.S. was followed by Italy (2.8%), the United Kingdom (2.5%), Spain (2.3%), Germany (1.9%), and France (1.7%). MySpace and Facebook were the most popular sites accessed in the United States and United Kingdom, while MSN reigned in the rest of the countries surveyed. MySpace’s U.S. and UK numbers were 3.7 million and 440,000 respectively, while Facebook came out to 2 million and 307,000 users, respectively. YouTube was third the United States with 901,000 mobile visitors, and Bebo rounded out the top three in the UK with 288,000 mobile users. Unsurprisingly, those under 25 are the most active users - the 13 to 17 demographic reigned in France, German, Italy, and Spain while the 18 to 24 college crowd were the most active in the U.S. and UK.
Of course, a lot of these numbers are dependent on the availability of these social networks across operator portals. MySpace had strong distribution, appearing on the Amo’d, AT&T, Helio, and NExtel decks. Facebook was distributed on Spting, AT&T, Virgin, and Amp’d decks and YouTube was available on the Verizon deck. YouTube’s numbers are likely to go up because of its inclusion in the iPhone deck, which was not released at the time of the survey. In the UK, MySpace has distribution on Vodafone and Bebo on 3, but interestingly MSN is not offered on-portal anywhere. This shows that while there is strong correlation between popularity and being on-portal, off-portal activity is emerging as well.
It’s clear that the industry is noticing the compatibility between mobile devices and social networking sites. Some more on this from Mark Sullivan at PC World:
“Still, a lot of people believe that mobile social networking is going to be huge, especially as faster wireless networks become available. Meanwhile, mucho venture capital continues to flow into mobile social networking tech in its many forms.
What is it about mobile devices and social networking that make them a match made in heaven? Is the urge to social-network so strong that we simply can’t wait to get home to do it? Or will new mobile social networking services simply do things that static, desktop-based sites cannot? Will mobile devices take social networking to a whole new level? If the future is really ‘unwired’ and ‘always on’ as they tell us, then people will demand it.”
We’ll have to keep our eyes open for the next advances in mobile social networking. Pretty soon we may see contact lists consolidated between Facebook and your phone book, for example. Either way, if you’ve ever felt that getting home to check who just posted on your wall takes too long to bear, rest assured that you’re not alone.
Source:www.searchviews.com
Showing posts with label Myspace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Myspace. Show all posts
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
iRovr Launches Social Networking Site for the iPhone
We've seen a lot of new sites popping up designed specifically for the iPhone. What's more, many existing sites have designed iPhone-sized interfaces to make the iPhone user experience of their services more welcoming. The latest of these offerings, iRovr, is a full fledged social network designed specifically for the iPhone.
iRovr offers blogging, photo sharing, video sharing, bookmarking and user profiles - but all sized to fit the iPhone's screen. Media sharing is accomplished through POP email aliases.
Sites such as Digg and Del.icio.us have already offered iPhone an iPhone sized interface. However, the largest sites in social networking land - such as MySpace, Facebook, and Orkut - have not.
Source:http://iphonefaq.org
Orkut faces Facebook challenge
Social networking site Facebook is growing rapidly in India according to a report by comScore. From 238,000 users in January 2007, Facebook has grown by 230 per cent to 785,000 users from India in June 2007. According to the report, Facebook's growth in India was remarkable between April and June 2007, when it added 323,000 users.
I created my Facebook profile in the same period and I find that Facebook is a much better product that Orkut.
But Orkut is still ten times larger than Facebook, with 7.2 million Indian users as of June 2007. It added nearly a million new users during April-June 2007.
Among social networking websites - Orkut, Facebook and Linkedin are very popular in India. While the world leader MySpace does not have much traction here, slugging with 399,000 Indian users.
Here are the Alexa rankings of popular social networking sites in India.
* Orkut = 2
* Facebook = 21
* Hi5 = 53
* Myspace = 65
* Linkedin = 75
About 40 per cent of Indian Facebook users are women, while they constitute 28 per cent in Orkut. Indian companies like NDTV, Info Edge, SBI and Indiatimes are already advertising on Facebook. (Source: Agencyfaqs)
Orkut's popularity is also landing the site in trouble with Indian authorities. It was involved in quite a few controversies, most of which are cases of obscene or defamatory fake profiles and hate communities.
Homegrown social networking sites like BigAdda, Rediff iShare, Fropper, Yaari and Minglebox are gearing up to challenge the international heavy weights. Their success will depend on whether they are able to leverage their local knowledge and understanding of Indian sensibilities to differentiate their offering. The global social networking giants start with a huge advantage - that of a large exisiting userbase - which helps in creating the network-effect and boosting viral growth.
Source:www.cnet.com
I created my Facebook profile in the same period and I find that Facebook is a much better product that Orkut.
But Orkut is still ten times larger than Facebook, with 7.2 million Indian users as of June 2007. It added nearly a million new users during April-June 2007.
Among social networking websites - Orkut, Facebook and Linkedin are very popular in India. While the world leader MySpace does not have much traction here, slugging with 399,000 Indian users.
Here are the Alexa rankings of popular social networking sites in India.
* Orkut = 2
* Facebook = 21
* Hi5 = 53
* Myspace = 65
* Linkedin = 75
About 40 per cent of Indian Facebook users are women, while they constitute 28 per cent in Orkut. Indian companies like NDTV, Info Edge, SBI and Indiatimes are already advertising on Facebook. (Source: Agencyfaqs)
Orkut's popularity is also landing the site in trouble with Indian authorities. It was involved in quite a few controversies, most of which are cases of obscene or defamatory fake profiles and hate communities.
Homegrown social networking sites like BigAdda, Rediff iShare, Fropper, Yaari and Minglebox are gearing up to challenge the international heavy weights. Their success will depend on whether they are able to leverage their local knowledge and understanding of Indian sensibilities to differentiate their offering. The global social networking giants start with a huge advantage - that of a large exisiting userbase - which helps in creating the network-effect and boosting viral growth.
Source:www.cnet.com
Monday, August 13, 2007
Mobile operators see 10 times more potential in social networking
The success of social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and even YouTube could represent the next boom for the mobile phone operators.
Revenues from putting so-called user-generated content - meaning content such as videos and blogs created by consumers rather than media organisations - onto mobile phones is expected to rise more than tenfold over the next five years, according to estimates by Juniper Research published yesterday.
Allowing the legion of bloggers, Facebook posters and comedy clip makers to upload and view each other's every movement on their mobile phone could be worth $5.74bn (£2.87bn) by 2012, according to Juniper, from just $576m this year.
"One of the most attractive elements of social networking on a mobile phone is that it's universally accessible so people can look up their friends, update their status or whatever on the move, which for the young demographic is particularly appealing," according to the study's author, Dr Windsor Holden.
Social networking has become one of the fastest-growing internet trends of the past two years. According to internet metrics firm Comscore, Facebook saw users increase 270% from June last year to June this year. It now has more than 52 million users worldwide. MySpace registered lower growth of 72% but still leads the market with 114 million users. Bebo, with a majority of users in Europe, grew 172% to more than 18 million users. The mobile phone companies reckon the people who are using sites like Facebook are exactly the sort of people likely to be interested in using the internet on a mobile phone.
Further research by Comscore shows that people who are already experimenting with the internet on a mobile phone are younger than users who access the web only on a computer. In Britain, more than 25% of mobile internet users are aged 15 to 24, compared with 20% who go online using a computer; a further 41% of mobile internet users are 25 to 34 compared with less than 20% using a computer.
The concern for the mobile phone companies, however, has always been that offering the sort of flat-rate mobile internet access packages likely to lead to an explosion of usage would leave them as little more than big dumb pipes in the air. Their worry has been that once they offer fixed-rate packages, all they can compete on is price and over time they will end up as sidelined as internet service providers (ISPs) have become in the fixed-line internet world.
Some mobile phone companies have tried to retain their position in the value chain by setting up their own UGC services. For instance 3 has scored with its SeeMeTV portal, which lets users upload clips and share them with other 3 customers. SeeMeTV has also created its own social networking service called Moko (formerly Kink Kommunity) with users paying £2.50 a month to keep in touch.
But Frédéric Huet, director at Greenwich Consulting, says that the mobile operators have a real opportunity to persuade more customers to use their mobiles to access the internet by "mobilising" sites such as Facebook.
"I would not be too dismissive of data revenues. If the mobile operators can start increasing take-up of data services they will increase revenues for quite a few years before commoditisation and price competition sees those revenues erode again," he said. "By then the operators will be in a position to offer other services such as mobile advertising.
"The trick is to start building an audience now and the mobile phone operators are starting to understand that."
Sensing this opportunity, several mobile phone companies - such as T-Mobile, 3 and Vodafone in Britain - have launched flat-rate mobile internet tariffs.
Facebook, in fact, is already available on mobile phones in the US through the AT&T, Verizon and Sprint/Nextel networks, with users able to update their profiles and check on their friends. Several of the UK's mobile phone networks are understood to be eagerly chasing deals to add Facebook to their mobile web offerings. In addition, Vodafone has signed an exclusive deal to put YouTube clips on its mobile internet service.
Juniper Research's Dr Windsor, meanwhile, points out that the transition from social networking on the fixed-line internet to the mobile internet could allow new entrants to muscle in.
One such new entrant is Itsmy.com, owned by German tech company Gofresh, which has already signed up more than half a million users.
But these new entrants are going to have a fight on their hands once people can easily update their Facebook status to "I'm on the train" using their mobile.
Source:www.guardianweekly.co.uk
Revenues from putting so-called user-generated content - meaning content such as videos and blogs created by consumers rather than media organisations - onto mobile phones is expected to rise more than tenfold over the next five years, according to estimates by Juniper Research published yesterday.
Allowing the legion of bloggers, Facebook posters and comedy clip makers to upload and view each other's every movement on their mobile phone could be worth $5.74bn (£2.87bn) by 2012, according to Juniper, from just $576m this year.
"One of the most attractive elements of social networking on a mobile phone is that it's universally accessible so people can look up their friends, update their status or whatever on the move, which for the young demographic is particularly appealing," according to the study's author, Dr Windsor Holden.
Social networking has become one of the fastest-growing internet trends of the past two years. According to internet metrics firm Comscore, Facebook saw users increase 270% from June last year to June this year. It now has more than 52 million users worldwide. MySpace registered lower growth of 72% but still leads the market with 114 million users. Bebo, with a majority of users in Europe, grew 172% to more than 18 million users. The mobile phone companies reckon the people who are using sites like Facebook are exactly the sort of people likely to be interested in using the internet on a mobile phone.
Further research by Comscore shows that people who are already experimenting with the internet on a mobile phone are younger than users who access the web only on a computer. In Britain, more than 25% of mobile internet users are aged 15 to 24, compared with 20% who go online using a computer; a further 41% of mobile internet users are 25 to 34 compared with less than 20% using a computer.
The concern for the mobile phone companies, however, has always been that offering the sort of flat-rate mobile internet access packages likely to lead to an explosion of usage would leave them as little more than big dumb pipes in the air. Their worry has been that once they offer fixed-rate packages, all they can compete on is price and over time they will end up as sidelined as internet service providers (ISPs) have become in the fixed-line internet world.
Some mobile phone companies have tried to retain their position in the value chain by setting up their own UGC services. For instance 3 has scored with its SeeMeTV portal, which lets users upload clips and share them with other 3 customers. SeeMeTV has also created its own social networking service called Moko (formerly Kink Kommunity) with users paying £2.50 a month to keep in touch.
But Frédéric Huet, director at Greenwich Consulting, says that the mobile operators have a real opportunity to persuade more customers to use their mobiles to access the internet by "mobilising" sites such as Facebook.
"I would not be too dismissive of data revenues. If the mobile operators can start increasing take-up of data services they will increase revenues for quite a few years before commoditisation and price competition sees those revenues erode again," he said. "By then the operators will be in a position to offer other services such as mobile advertising.
"The trick is to start building an audience now and the mobile phone operators are starting to understand that."
Sensing this opportunity, several mobile phone companies - such as T-Mobile, 3 and Vodafone in Britain - have launched flat-rate mobile internet tariffs.
Facebook, in fact, is already available on mobile phones in the US through the AT&T, Verizon and Sprint/Nextel networks, with users able to update their profiles and check on their friends. Several of the UK's mobile phone networks are understood to be eagerly chasing deals to add Facebook to their mobile web offerings. In addition, Vodafone has signed an exclusive deal to put YouTube clips on its mobile internet service.
Juniper Research's Dr Windsor, meanwhile, points out that the transition from social networking on the fixed-line internet to the mobile internet could allow new entrants to muscle in.
One such new entrant is Itsmy.com, owned by German tech company Gofresh, which has already signed up more than half a million users.
But these new entrants are going to have a fight on their hands once people can easily update their Facebook status to "I'm on the train" using their mobile.
Source:www.guardianweekly.co.uk
BigAdda, an Indian Youth Networking Site launched by Reliance ADA Group
Social networking sites are the fad of the present day. They offer entertainment, interaction and a lot more. But somewhere they are becoming so common that one cannot go wrong if they are literally compared to the stereotype reality shows too. Both equally hyped but eventually fizz out as time passes by. And there’s yet another social networking site adding to the bandwagon.
Monday, the 13th of August 2007, saw the launch of Reliance ADA group’s ‘BigAdda.com’ which touts itself to apparently be the ‘Indian Youth Networking Site’. BigAdda.com makes possible networking and self-expression by creating, uploading and sharing of videos, photos in a public, yet private, space. Some of the interesting features of this networking platform includes blogs and scribbles, which help the users express, comment and connect, Addas(communities) and forums - all of these catering to one of the most important needs of the youth today - ‘Self Expression’.
Indian social networking site BigAdda.com, plans to gather a user base of 10 million users by 2010 they have already taken a significant step in this direction by acquiring over a 100,000 customers in the last 6 weeks. The company plans to introduce a Music vertical for uploading, streaming and sharing of user playlists. Web Instant Messenger (IM) and wireless interface would also be introduced shortly, which acknowledges the youth’s asynchronous messaging habits and need for connectivity.
Since BigAdda.com has been made with the prime intention of catering to the youth, the panel of speakers too was celebs that are highly popular in their own respective fields amidst the Indian youth community. Present at the event were 5 youth icons to drive their communities online, namely popular glamour photographer Atul Kasbekar, music maestro Shankar Mahadevan, leading Indian female golfer Irnina Brar, top filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar and stunning Bollywood actress Diya Mirza.
So what exactly are these youth icons going to do on BigAdda.com? As communities are a key driver for growth in the networking business BigAdda has these 5 youth icons joining them for the initiative.
To begin with, Kasbekar will be offering a sneak peak into his shoots and would head a Mobile Photo Contest where users would be induced to shoot and upload photos from their mobiles of which Kasbekar would shortlist the best. And this lucky member would get a chance to work on an assignment with the man himself.
If music is your passion then you can head to Shankar Mahadevan’s Music Adda, who will be encouraging the youth to compose and share their original music. One short-listed member would then get a chance to meet with Shankar and release an album through Big Music Label.
If you prefer being on the golf course, then Irina Brar’s Sports Adda is where you need to be, where she drives a community specially focusing on Girls in Sports. Now this is surely interesting keeping in mind how stereotyped somewhere India is with regards to its choice of sports, sport stars and of course gender too.
Ever dreamt of being Spielberg? If yes, then you can kick start here, not with Spielberg of course, but the Indian directing genius Madhur Bhandarkar, who would steer the Video Category and promote youngsters to share original scripts and video stories.
And if you are simply in awe (just the way our videographer was after seeing the ethereal beauty) of the lovely Dia Mirza, join her Adda, which would steer the Movies category and promote her fan club.
Also present at the event were two leading men from the Reliance ADA Group, namely Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment and Siddhartha Roy, Chief Operating Officer, BigAdda.
Speaking about BigAdda.com, Sawhney said, “According to the 2007 NASSCOM Report, it is estimated that by 2010 there will be 20 million Broadband subscribers, up from 1 million and 100 million Internet users, as compared to 40 million today. The number of Internet users has witnessed an upswing, and so has their need to socialize online and gain acceptance in the virtual world. Virtual hang-out plays a key role, because it gives them the space to be amongst friends and peers, while sharing an image of their own, which they would like to project. BigAdda.com aims to evolve a youth community, inclusive and aspirational and create a youth culture that will be cool and aspirational for them.”
“Music, Fashion, Movies and Sports are something that cuts across all segments and age groups. The idea was to create a platform where the fans/users can talk/share with their icon. Going forward, we plan to increase our community drivers and supplement it with innovative marketing and promotional activities,” continued Mr. Sawhney.
Giving his take on BigAdda.com Siddhartha Roy, Chief Operating Officer, BigAdda said, “As a society, we are at a moment of transition when social relationships may no longer be restricted to face-to-face interactions in our own immediate surroundings, but also include a large number of relationships conducted over vast geographic distances. Photos, Videos and Music are the key drivers of online consumption today. Hence, we wanted to let our users upload content of their choice, as one of the many features on BigAdda.com, as it gets to showcase and express their personality. Till date, there has not been one particular destination for Indian and International video content, a void which BigAdda will fill. In just 6 weeks of the site being in the test phase, BigAdda.com has over 12000 videos with over 5,000 television advertisements.”
One really wonders that with the likes of highly renowned social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, MySpace and zillions more, where does BigAdda.com actually stand? Perhaps as the site is banking on the power of the youth, especially keeping in mind the fact that around 54 percent of the present Indian population is below 25 years of age, there may be a bleak possibility that this very youth may consider BigAdda.com as their haven. A place to express, learn and share.
Source:www.techshout.com
Monday, the 13th of August 2007, saw the launch of Reliance ADA group’s ‘BigAdda.com’ which touts itself to apparently be the ‘Indian Youth Networking Site’. BigAdda.com makes possible networking and self-expression by creating, uploading and sharing of videos, photos in a public, yet private, space. Some of the interesting features of this networking platform includes blogs and scribbles, which help the users express, comment and connect, Addas(communities) and forums - all of these catering to one of the most important needs of the youth today - ‘Self Expression’.
Indian social networking site BigAdda.com, plans to gather a user base of 10 million users by 2010 they have already taken a significant step in this direction by acquiring over a 100,000 customers in the last 6 weeks. The company plans to introduce a Music vertical for uploading, streaming and sharing of user playlists. Web Instant Messenger (IM) and wireless interface would also be introduced shortly, which acknowledges the youth’s asynchronous messaging habits and need for connectivity.
Since BigAdda.com has been made with the prime intention of catering to the youth, the panel of speakers too was celebs that are highly popular in their own respective fields amidst the Indian youth community. Present at the event were 5 youth icons to drive their communities online, namely popular glamour photographer Atul Kasbekar, music maestro Shankar Mahadevan, leading Indian female golfer Irnina Brar, top filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar and stunning Bollywood actress Diya Mirza.
So what exactly are these youth icons going to do on BigAdda.com? As communities are a key driver for growth in the networking business BigAdda has these 5 youth icons joining them for the initiative.
To begin with, Kasbekar will be offering a sneak peak into his shoots and would head a Mobile Photo Contest where users would be induced to shoot and upload photos from their mobiles of which Kasbekar would shortlist the best. And this lucky member would get a chance to work on an assignment with the man himself.
If music is your passion then you can head to Shankar Mahadevan’s Music Adda, who will be encouraging the youth to compose and share their original music. One short-listed member would then get a chance to meet with Shankar and release an album through Big Music Label.
If you prefer being on the golf course, then Irina Brar’s Sports Adda is where you need to be, where she drives a community specially focusing on Girls in Sports. Now this is surely interesting keeping in mind how stereotyped somewhere India is with regards to its choice of sports, sport stars and of course gender too.
Ever dreamt of being Spielberg? If yes, then you can kick start here, not with Spielberg of course, but the Indian directing genius Madhur Bhandarkar, who would steer the Video Category and promote youngsters to share original scripts and video stories.
And if you are simply in awe (just the way our videographer was after seeing the ethereal beauty) of the lovely Dia Mirza, join her Adda, which would steer the Movies category and promote her fan club.
Also present at the event were two leading men from the Reliance ADA Group, namely Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment and Siddhartha Roy, Chief Operating Officer, BigAdda.
Speaking about BigAdda.com, Sawhney said, “According to the 2007 NASSCOM Report, it is estimated that by 2010 there will be 20 million Broadband subscribers, up from 1 million and 100 million Internet users, as compared to 40 million today. The number of Internet users has witnessed an upswing, and so has their need to socialize online and gain acceptance in the virtual world. Virtual hang-out plays a key role, because it gives them the space to be amongst friends and peers, while sharing an image of their own, which they would like to project. BigAdda.com aims to evolve a youth community, inclusive and aspirational and create a youth culture that will be cool and aspirational for them.”
“Music, Fashion, Movies and Sports are something that cuts across all segments and age groups. The idea was to create a platform where the fans/users can talk/share with their icon. Going forward, we plan to increase our community drivers and supplement it with innovative marketing and promotional activities,” continued Mr. Sawhney.
Giving his take on BigAdda.com Siddhartha Roy, Chief Operating Officer, BigAdda said, “As a society, we are at a moment of transition when social relationships may no longer be restricted to face-to-face interactions in our own immediate surroundings, but also include a large number of relationships conducted over vast geographic distances. Photos, Videos and Music are the key drivers of online consumption today. Hence, we wanted to let our users upload content of their choice, as one of the many features on BigAdda.com, as it gets to showcase and express their personality. Till date, there has not been one particular destination for Indian and International video content, a void which BigAdda will fill. In just 6 weeks of the site being in the test phase, BigAdda.com has over 12000 videos with over 5,000 television advertisements.”
One really wonders that with the likes of highly renowned social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, MySpace and zillions more, where does BigAdda.com actually stand? Perhaps as the site is banking on the power of the youth, especially keeping in mind the fact that around 54 percent of the present Indian population is below 25 years of age, there may be a bleak possibility that this very youth may consider BigAdda.com as their haven. A place to express, learn and share.
Source:www.techshout.com
Facebook and social networking sites drive web filtering technology
The latest internet phenomenon, social networking websites offer an interactive network of photos, user profiles, email and chatrooms.
Unlike MySpace, Bebo, Faceparty, YouTube and most other mainstream social networking websites, Facebook is currently favoured amongst young professionals and consequently take-up of the service within the corporate environment has been extremely swift, with many companies creating their own groups on the site.
Although there are undoubtedly some commercial benefits for using the service, particularly for smaller businesses, Facebook in particular relies heavily on email to inform users of new messages received and other activities taking place on site, thereby incentivising users to return to the site again and again for activity updates. With 40%+ of emails at work being non-business related already (IDC research) this adds significantly to un-required traffic.
The sites represents a number of other risks to business, with many staff choosing to use their time online to discuss their employer and air grievances in the public domain. Moreover, with users of social networking sites freely offering personal details to many, there is also an increased risk of identity theft.
As a result, adoption of web filtering technology is currently being largely driven by the phenomenal take up of social networking sites such as Facebook.
Indeed CTOs and IT administrators are increasingly choosing to specifically block access to Facebook, alongside the other chief time-sapping websites – hotmail and gmail. 47% of Email Systems’ web filtering customers have already blocked Facebook as an implicitly selected site and 83% have blocked it by category (social networking). Additionally, Email Systems has identified a trend for blocking viral video sites, such as YouTube, with over 53% of its customers choosing to block this site during work hours and 64% of customers blocking streaming and download video content from its users.
According to a recent survey, nearly one in five companies has disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies in the past year, while 7.1% of companies fired an employee for such infractions and 10% investigated the exposure of financial information via a blog or message board posting in the past year.
With several city firms – including Credit Suisse and Dresdner Kleinwort - having announced a ban on the site earlier this week and many of Email Systems new web filtering customers citing Facebook explicitly as one of the key catalysts for adopting web filtering, the issue is fast becoming a top concern.
It is estimated that over 60% of UK companies have no web filtering in place today. These social sites pose a real threat to business productivity, confidentiality and possibly reputation with many staff often discussing company issues and opinions in public.
According to the DTI: “Inappropriate web and e-mail usage is the second largest cause of reported security incidents”. The same report indicated that 52% of organisations have reported misuse of internet resources with the two most common being access to inappropriate websites (41%) and excessive web surfing (36%).
With child violence sites currently in the headlines as another example of undesirable web-content, Email Systems web filtering service allows customers to block internet access for specific sites, types of sites or users, whilst providing detailed real-time reporting.
Neil Hammerton, CEO of Email Systems commented: “Facebook is a growing concern for many of our customers, mainly because the site is so addictive and encourages constant, repeat usage throughout the day. Clearly many businesses have long considered webmail services to be a significant risk in terms of time, productivity and security – but Facebook is the latest incarnation to really get the industry stirred up.”
Source:www.securitypark.co.uk
Unlike MySpace, Bebo, Faceparty, YouTube and most other mainstream social networking websites, Facebook is currently favoured amongst young professionals and consequently take-up of the service within the corporate environment has been extremely swift, with many companies creating their own groups on the site.
Although there are undoubtedly some commercial benefits for using the service, particularly for smaller businesses, Facebook in particular relies heavily on email to inform users of new messages received and other activities taking place on site, thereby incentivising users to return to the site again and again for activity updates. With 40%+ of emails at work being non-business related already (IDC research) this adds significantly to un-required traffic.
The sites represents a number of other risks to business, with many staff choosing to use their time online to discuss their employer and air grievances in the public domain. Moreover, with users of social networking sites freely offering personal details to many, there is also an increased risk of identity theft.
As a result, adoption of web filtering technology is currently being largely driven by the phenomenal take up of social networking sites such as Facebook.
Indeed CTOs and IT administrators are increasingly choosing to specifically block access to Facebook, alongside the other chief time-sapping websites – hotmail and gmail. 47% of Email Systems’ web filtering customers have already blocked Facebook as an implicitly selected site and 83% have blocked it by category (social networking). Additionally, Email Systems has identified a trend for blocking viral video sites, such as YouTube, with over 53% of its customers choosing to block this site during work hours and 64% of customers blocking streaming and download video content from its users.
According to a recent survey, nearly one in five companies has disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies in the past year, while 7.1% of companies fired an employee for such infractions and 10% investigated the exposure of financial information via a blog or message board posting in the past year.
With several city firms – including Credit Suisse and Dresdner Kleinwort - having announced a ban on the site earlier this week and many of Email Systems new web filtering customers citing Facebook explicitly as one of the key catalysts for adopting web filtering, the issue is fast becoming a top concern.
It is estimated that over 60% of UK companies have no web filtering in place today. These social sites pose a real threat to business productivity, confidentiality and possibly reputation with many staff often discussing company issues and opinions in public.
According to the DTI: “Inappropriate web and e-mail usage is the second largest cause of reported security incidents”. The same report indicated that 52% of organisations have reported misuse of internet resources with the two most common being access to inappropriate websites (41%) and excessive web surfing (36%).
With child violence sites currently in the headlines as another example of undesirable web-content, Email Systems web filtering service allows customers to block internet access for specific sites, types of sites or users, whilst providing detailed real-time reporting.
Neil Hammerton, CEO of Email Systems commented: “Facebook is a growing concern for many of our customers, mainly because the site is so addictive and encourages constant, repeat usage throughout the day. Clearly many businesses have long considered webmail services to be a significant risk in terms of time, productivity and security – but Facebook is the latest incarnation to really get the industry stirred up.”
Source:www.securitypark.co.uk
Sunday, August 12, 2007
MySpace Page Educating People About Prescription Drug Addiction
According to the Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc. press release, Addiction411 has started a new MySpace page to educate people all around the world regarding Opioid addiction.
For those who do not know what Opioid addiction is, let me educate you. Opioid addiction is the addiction to prescribed pain killers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, heroine, and methadone. An estimated number of 6 million Americans of all ages will misuse or become addicted to prescribed pain killers at one point in time of their life. Opioid addiction has increased so drastically over the past few years that the National Institute for Drug Abuse now considers Opioid dependence as a chronic brain disease.
With all of the new information and statistics coming about regarding Opioid dependency, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals has become the first company to become partners with MySpace and offer people from around the world important information regarding Opioid addiction. The MySpace page which is located at MySpace.Com/Addiction411 has much needed information for anyone who is interested in educating themselves regarding the dangers of Opioid addiction.
The Addiction411 page at MySpace offers an interactive online addiction questionnaire. A doctor locater in your area to help with the Opioid addiction. Information regarding how prescription drug use can lead to addiction, as well as information regarding the dangers and the red flags you should look for if someone you love or care for is misusing prescriptions drugs. Unfortunately those who are misusing prescription drugs do not realize it until it is so bad that they are embarrassed to even mention it or get help. With the Addiction411 MySpace page, abusers can help find the resources they need to get their life back without announcing to everyone around them that they have an addiction.
Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a specialty pharmaceutical company that makes Suboxone, a drug that treats Opioid dependency in a medical based setting. Suboxone and Subutex, also made by Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc., are the only two drugs approved by the FDA to be used in treating Opioid dependency inside a medical facility. To learn more about these two drugs, please visit opioiddependence.com.
For all other information regarding Opioid dependency and what you can do if you know someone or if you are that someone who needs help. Please visit the TurnToHelp.com website and order your free information kit regarding Opioid dependency and it's dangers.
Source:www.associatedcontent.com
For those who do not know what Opioid addiction is, let me educate you. Opioid addiction is the addiction to prescribed pain killers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, heroine, and methadone. An estimated number of 6 million Americans of all ages will misuse or become addicted to prescribed pain killers at one point in time of their life. Opioid addiction has increased so drastically over the past few years that the National Institute for Drug Abuse now considers Opioid dependence as a chronic brain disease.
With all of the new information and statistics coming about regarding Opioid dependency, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals has become the first company to become partners with MySpace and offer people from around the world important information regarding Opioid addiction. The MySpace page which is located at MySpace.Com/Addiction411 has much needed information for anyone who is interested in educating themselves regarding the dangers of Opioid addiction.
The Addiction411 page at MySpace offers an interactive online addiction questionnaire. A doctor locater in your area to help with the Opioid addiction. Information regarding how prescription drug use can lead to addiction, as well as information regarding the dangers and the red flags you should look for if someone you love or care for is misusing prescriptions drugs. Unfortunately those who are misusing prescription drugs do not realize it until it is so bad that they are embarrassed to even mention it or get help. With the Addiction411 MySpace page, abusers can help find the resources they need to get their life back without announcing to everyone around them that they have an addiction.
Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a specialty pharmaceutical company that makes Suboxone, a drug that treats Opioid dependency in a medical based setting. Suboxone and Subutex, also made by Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc., are the only two drugs approved by the FDA to be used in treating Opioid dependency inside a medical facility. To learn more about these two drugs, please visit opioiddependence.com.
For all other information regarding Opioid dependency and what you can do if you know someone or if you are that someone who needs help. Please visit the TurnToHelp.com website and order your free information kit regarding Opioid dependency and it's dangers.
Source:www.associatedcontent.com
Advertisers find new headaches in lawless world of social Web sites
First came the soaring ascent of online social networking sites and now comes old fashioned soul searching about a sprawling universe where staid advertisements can scrape up against profiles of giddy young professionals and pages devoted to self-proclaimed angry "straight, white men."
While sites like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Habbo Hotel have a powerful allure, the companies that run them are finding themselves on the front lines of criticism about fast-evolving standards. Some of the criticism in Britain involves advertising for junk food that is migrating to the sites from children's television programming, where such ads are now banned, and corporate concern about employees distracted by time-sapping virtual networking.
For traditional advertisers rushing headlong into this new territory to reach tantalizing, young users, the ultimate nightmare is the surprise of sharing virtual real estate with risqué material or racist rants.
"Ultimately there are going to be mistakes and unfortunate incidents," said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst with the research firm, eMarketer, and the author of a report predicting that global advertising spending on social networks would grow to $3.6 billion by 2011 from $445 million this year.
"Social networking content is very dynamic and it's always changing," she added. "We're moving to a world of user-generated content and it's changing on a minute-by-minute basis. I think marketers are just going to have to get used to it."
Online advertising is a vital part of development for social networks, which have grown dramatically in the past two years with MySpace attracting more than 114 million visitors internationally in June, followed by Facebook with 52.2 million and Bebo at 18.2 million, according to comScore, an Internet tracking service. And all of those sites are feeling some growing pains.
In London, with the number of Facebook users swelling, government agencies and six companies, including Vodafone, Virgin Media and First Direct, made a jumpy, temporary exodus from the site this month. The companies withdrew advertising accounts from Facebook after their brands surfaced in blind purchases alongside a page for the anti-immigrant, right-wing British National Party.
Now the party's Facebook profile has been whisked clean of advertising, but the government's Central Office of Information has temporarily pulled advertising until it receives assurances about appropriate placements.
Other companies are jittery for other reasons; Credit Suisse and Dresdner Kleinwort cut off company access to such sites because of concerns about unproductive use of work time.
"Access to Facebook is denied by our automatic Web site filtering software as it may contravene our Internet use policy," said Murray Parker, a Dresdner Kleinwort spokesman. "Dresdner Kleinwort only provides Internet facilities to staff for the purpose of conducting company business."
MySpace and Bebo, which has evolved into the most popular social site for European users, have already given their assurances to British government authorities. Facebook, as well, announced last week that it was developing new systems to allow advertisers more control.
But the controversy in Britain has had an impact on all companies in the social networking category, many of which have been taking steps to highlight their ethical responsibilities, by hiring special "safety officers" or to refuse ads for profile pages.
"Bebo, unfortunately, gets tarnished with the same brush as Facebook, which is very new in the U.K. market," said Mark Charkin, head of Bebo sales for England and Ireland.
The British flap happened just after Bebo rolled out an edgy new series called KateModern, which it had commissioned from the producers of infamous and fictional Lonelygirl15, a Web series about a young girl named Bree. The ambition is to attract more users to the site, but also to tap a new revenue pool by integrating products into the story line to give advertisers greater exposure instead of click-through advertising banners.
The advertising is just starting to surface, like a glimpse of a Microsoft brand on a computer. But Charkin said no ads would appear in the more serious and dramatic scenes. Orange, Proctor & Gamble and Buena Vista, have all signed up to give their products bit parts, according to Charkin.
Bebo and Habbo House, an animated world with sites in 19 countries that draws users between the ages of 10 and 16, are both integrating candy and food advertisements into their sites, which has drawn particular criticism in England, where authorities banned junk food advertisements in April for television programming aimed at children aged 4 to 9 years. At the start of next year, the ban will extend to programs for viewers younger than 16.
Bebo has been running a campaign for Skittles candy, "A World of My Own," that offers users a chance to create their own ads. Habbo Hotel, with its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, incorporates brands like Burger King or Juicy Fruit gum, into the public spaces where players hang out in rooms with shiny tile floors and counters that look very similar to a fast food restaurant. "We think the future is having users acting or interacting with your brand. How do we solve that?" said Henrik Hoglund, who leads advertising sales for Habbo. "By setting up a competition, a quest and other things that can activate brands."
Habbo, according to Juhani Lassila, a company spokesman for Sulake, the parent company of Habbo, has adopted a code of following the rules in different countries; in the case of Britain, it is not showing the Burger King advertisements on local sites.
A Bebo spokeswoman, Sarah Gavin, said the company was working with the British regulator Ofcom and was following guidelines from the U.K. Advertising Standard's Authority.
Some institutions have reacted by building their own walls. A number of schools, companies and government authorities are filtering out social networks by blocking access. That counter-reaction has been building over the past three months, said Greg Miller, the head of sales for Email Systems, a Web services company, which also filters billions of mail messages a month for hundreds of private and public clients.
"Social networking has come into the fore in the work space," Miller said. "People knew it was there, but they were quite happy to not necessarily ignore it, but to accept it. But now it's gotten to the point where they can no longer tolerate it."
But the desire to communicate about personal issues is a powerful force. One of the newest entrants into the field is an international Web site called Respectance, which is creating a virtual memorial for the dead that enables surviving friends and relatives to create and share user-generated tributes and obituaries.
Ultimately, the company's founders and investors want advertising, but they are moving into untrammeled territory while striking the right dignified tone. "This has to be handled very carefully," said Barend Van den Brande, a partner in Big Bang Ventures, a Belgian venture capital fund that has invested in Respectance. "What you don't want to see is an ad for a BMW on your grandmother's obituary."
Source:www.iht.com
While sites like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Habbo Hotel have a powerful allure, the companies that run them are finding themselves on the front lines of criticism about fast-evolving standards. Some of the criticism in Britain involves advertising for junk food that is migrating to the sites from children's television programming, where such ads are now banned, and corporate concern about employees distracted by time-sapping virtual networking.
For traditional advertisers rushing headlong into this new territory to reach tantalizing, young users, the ultimate nightmare is the surprise of sharing virtual real estate with risqué material or racist rants.
"Ultimately there are going to be mistakes and unfortunate incidents," said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst with the research firm, eMarketer, and the author of a report predicting that global advertising spending on social networks would grow to $3.6 billion by 2011 from $445 million this year.
"Social networking content is very dynamic and it's always changing," she added. "We're moving to a world of user-generated content and it's changing on a minute-by-minute basis. I think marketers are just going to have to get used to it."
Online advertising is a vital part of development for social networks, which have grown dramatically in the past two years with MySpace attracting more than 114 million visitors internationally in June, followed by Facebook with 52.2 million and Bebo at 18.2 million, according to comScore, an Internet tracking service. And all of those sites are feeling some growing pains.
In London, with the number of Facebook users swelling, government agencies and six companies, including Vodafone, Virgin Media and First Direct, made a jumpy, temporary exodus from the site this month. The companies withdrew advertising accounts from Facebook after their brands surfaced in blind purchases alongside a page for the anti-immigrant, right-wing British National Party.
Now the party's Facebook profile has been whisked clean of advertising, but the government's Central Office of Information has temporarily pulled advertising until it receives assurances about appropriate placements.
Other companies are jittery for other reasons; Credit Suisse and Dresdner Kleinwort cut off company access to such sites because of concerns about unproductive use of work time.
"Access to Facebook is denied by our automatic Web site filtering software as it may contravene our Internet use policy," said Murray Parker, a Dresdner Kleinwort spokesman. "Dresdner Kleinwort only provides Internet facilities to staff for the purpose of conducting company business."
MySpace and Bebo, which has evolved into the most popular social site for European users, have already given their assurances to British government authorities. Facebook, as well, announced last week that it was developing new systems to allow advertisers more control.
But the controversy in Britain has had an impact on all companies in the social networking category, many of which have been taking steps to highlight their ethical responsibilities, by hiring special "safety officers" or to refuse ads for profile pages.
"Bebo, unfortunately, gets tarnished with the same brush as Facebook, which is very new in the U.K. market," said Mark Charkin, head of Bebo sales for England and Ireland.
The British flap happened just after Bebo rolled out an edgy new series called KateModern, which it had commissioned from the producers of infamous and fictional Lonelygirl15, a Web series about a young girl named Bree. The ambition is to attract more users to the site, but also to tap a new revenue pool by integrating products into the story line to give advertisers greater exposure instead of click-through advertising banners.
The advertising is just starting to surface, like a glimpse of a Microsoft brand on a computer. But Charkin said no ads would appear in the more serious and dramatic scenes. Orange, Proctor & Gamble and Buena Vista, have all signed up to give their products bit parts, according to Charkin.
Bebo and Habbo House, an animated world with sites in 19 countries that draws users between the ages of 10 and 16, are both integrating candy and food advertisements into their sites, which has drawn particular criticism in England, where authorities banned junk food advertisements in April for television programming aimed at children aged 4 to 9 years. At the start of next year, the ban will extend to programs for viewers younger than 16.
Bebo has been running a campaign for Skittles candy, "A World of My Own," that offers users a chance to create their own ads. Habbo Hotel, with its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, incorporates brands like Burger King or Juicy Fruit gum, into the public spaces where players hang out in rooms with shiny tile floors and counters that look very similar to a fast food restaurant. "We think the future is having users acting or interacting with your brand. How do we solve that?" said Henrik Hoglund, who leads advertising sales for Habbo. "By setting up a competition, a quest and other things that can activate brands."
Habbo, according to Juhani Lassila, a company spokesman for Sulake, the parent company of Habbo, has adopted a code of following the rules in different countries; in the case of Britain, it is not showing the Burger King advertisements on local sites.
A Bebo spokeswoman, Sarah Gavin, said the company was working with the British regulator Ofcom and was following guidelines from the U.K. Advertising Standard's Authority.
Some institutions have reacted by building their own walls. A number of schools, companies and government authorities are filtering out social networks by blocking access. That counter-reaction has been building over the past three months, said Greg Miller, the head of sales for Email Systems, a Web services company, which also filters billions of mail messages a month for hundreds of private and public clients.
"Social networking has come into the fore in the work space," Miller said. "People knew it was there, but they were quite happy to not necessarily ignore it, but to accept it. But now it's gotten to the point where they can no longer tolerate it."
But the desire to communicate about personal issues is a powerful force. One of the newest entrants into the field is an international Web site called Respectance, which is creating a virtual memorial for the dead that enables surviving friends and relatives to create and share user-generated tributes and obituaries.
Ultimately, the company's founders and investors want advertising, but they are moving into untrammeled territory while striking the right dignified tone. "This has to be handled very carefully," said Barend Van den Brande, a partner in Big Bang Ventures, a Belgian venture capital fund that has invested in Respectance. "What you don't want to see is an ad for a BMW on your grandmother's obituary."
Source:www.iht.com
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Orkut becomes 'media' popular social networking site
Pop singer Paris Hilton promoted her new music album 'Paris' on YouTube. Fashion brands, such Ralph Lauren, Gap, Victoria's Secret, Calvin Klein, Adidas and more are on YouTube connecting with the community through videos, commercials, behind-the-scenes, footage and fashion shows.
India is beginning to witness a similar trend, though it is at a very rudimentary stage. Orkut, a more popular social networking site, is attracting the attention of marketers. Naturally, brand advertising potential is huge. And some are already on board.
Meow 104.8 FM, the exclusive women FM station, is present on Orkut. Anil Srivatsa, COO, Radio Today, who also hosts Between the Sheets on Meow, enters into a discussion with the community and regularly updates audiences regarding his shows through Orkut. "It is an opportunity to engage with audiences, create a viral effect and spread the word about the brand," says Srivatsa.
Besides Orkut provides the ideal environment to promote a channel such as Meow, since it is positioned as a "talk format" radio station.
Srivatsa says he has made 700 friends in 30 days, and through those 700, he now reaches 2000 people. "Being on Orkut creates a buzz." Srivatsa hopes to have a meaningful business partnership with Orkut in the near future and is in talks with prospective advertisers.
Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults, says that social networking websites such as Orkut, YouTube, Fropper and Facebook give marketers a well profiled target audience. This is a golden opportunity for marketers, since traditional media is mostly mass, and one never knows if the money spent is actually leading to conversions.
"Segmentation allows the marketers to get close to its consumers, and therefore, targeting them is easier," says Bijoor
Research findings from JuxtConsult show enthusiasm amongst surfers to network. According to JuxtConsult's India Online 2007 survey communication, online networking is a hot trend, be it social or professional. Mrutyunjay, Director, JuxtConsult, says the popularity of social networking sites such as Orkut, Friends, Tagged, Fropper and Hi5 is a positive sign for Indian marketers.
For one, social networking sites are great way for spreading the word says Sachin Bhatia, co founder and chief marketing officer, MakeMyTrip.com. The travel portal is also present on Orkut.
"Users of social networks are a close-knit community, where opinions are trusted, or at least considered," Bhatia says. In fact, social networking sites can serve as great opportunities for the socially ostracized products such as cigarettes and liquor points out Bijoor.
But despite the potential of the medium, Indian marketers are sitting on the wall observes Bijoor. One worry is tampering of the content. Once the content is online, the brand owner has little control over the matter and could make the brand vulnerable.
Though there are technologies to prevent such a situation, marketers are in no hurry it seems. Another reason for the marketer's lack of enthusiasm is the size of social networkers. "It is small; just 11 million of the total of 30.23 million urban Internet users," says Mrutyunjay.
"Once these sites have the critical mass, marketers will begin to show interest," points out Bhatia of MakeMyTrip.com. On the other hand, Bhatia says that this is the best time to acquaint oneself with the medium, in terms of how best to exploit it in the future. MakeMyTrip has a two-member social networking team in place.
While social networking sites are yet to catch the fancy of advertisers, online communities of different brands such as sunsilkgangofgirls.com, Whisper's BeingGirl.co.in, ITC's website for Bingo Chips or Oktatabyebye.com, continue to get popular.
Source:www.televisionpoint.com
India is beginning to witness a similar trend, though it is at a very rudimentary stage. Orkut, a more popular social networking site, is attracting the attention of marketers. Naturally, brand advertising potential is huge. And some are already on board.
Meow 104.8 FM, the exclusive women FM station, is present on Orkut. Anil Srivatsa, COO, Radio Today, who also hosts Between the Sheets on Meow, enters into a discussion with the community and regularly updates audiences regarding his shows through Orkut. "It is an opportunity to engage with audiences, create a viral effect and spread the word about the brand," says Srivatsa.
Besides Orkut provides the ideal environment to promote a channel such as Meow, since it is positioned as a "talk format" radio station.
Srivatsa says he has made 700 friends in 30 days, and through those 700, he now reaches 2000 people. "Being on Orkut creates a buzz." Srivatsa hopes to have a meaningful business partnership with Orkut in the near future and is in talks with prospective advertisers.
Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults, says that social networking websites such as Orkut, YouTube, Fropper and Facebook give marketers a well profiled target audience. This is a golden opportunity for marketers, since traditional media is mostly mass, and one never knows if the money spent is actually leading to conversions.
"Segmentation allows the marketers to get close to its consumers, and therefore, targeting them is easier," says Bijoor
Research findings from JuxtConsult show enthusiasm amongst surfers to network. According to JuxtConsult's India Online 2007 survey communication, online networking is a hot trend, be it social or professional. Mrutyunjay, Director, JuxtConsult, says the popularity of social networking sites such as Orkut, Friends, Tagged, Fropper and Hi5 is a positive sign for Indian marketers.
For one, social networking sites are great way for spreading the word says Sachin Bhatia, co founder and chief marketing officer, MakeMyTrip.com. The travel portal is also present on Orkut.
"Users of social networks are a close-knit community, where opinions are trusted, or at least considered," Bhatia says. In fact, social networking sites can serve as great opportunities for the socially ostracized products such as cigarettes and liquor points out Bijoor.
But despite the potential of the medium, Indian marketers are sitting on the wall observes Bijoor. One worry is tampering of the content. Once the content is online, the brand owner has little control over the matter and could make the brand vulnerable.
Though there are technologies to prevent such a situation, marketers are in no hurry it seems. Another reason for the marketer's lack of enthusiasm is the size of social networkers. "It is small; just 11 million of the total of 30.23 million urban Internet users," says Mrutyunjay.
"Once these sites have the critical mass, marketers will begin to show interest," points out Bhatia of MakeMyTrip.com. On the other hand, Bhatia says that this is the best time to acquaint oneself with the medium, in terms of how best to exploit it in the future. MakeMyTrip has a two-member social networking team in place.
While social networking sites are yet to catch the fancy of advertisers, online communities of different brands such as sunsilkgangofgirls.com, Whisper's BeingGirl.co.in, ITC's website for Bingo Chips or Oktatabyebye.com, continue to get popular.
Source:www.televisionpoint.com
Social Studies: It's the Interface, Stupid!
A report reveals numerous flaws in popular social networking sites' design for user experience--but also some good processes.
Social networking is a booming medium for online communication, especially among young adults, and therefore a potential gold mine for marketers who can connect to its users. But a new report from Forrester Research shows that even the most popular sites put obstacles in the way of people who wish to sign up and become part of the social networking community--specifically lack of privacy information, poor text legibility, and inefficient task flows.
In the report, "Social Networking Sites Need A Usability Boost," Forrester applied a modified version of its Web-site review methodology to evaluate five social networks--Facebook, Friendster, hi5, MySpace, and Tagged--in terms of how easy it was for a new user to create a profile. Ratings for each of 10 criteria range from -2 (severe failure) to +2 (best practices), leaving a final score between -20 and +20, with +10 considered a passing grade. None of the five sites achieved higher than +4 (Facebook), and the lowest was -5 (Friendster).
According to Forrester, the notable failure points included:
* Lack of privacy and security policies. Four out of the five sites failed to present links to privacy and security policies in context when asking users to provide personal information.
* Text that was difficult to read. Three out of the five sites failed to provide easily readable content and field labels.
* Inefficient task flows. Friendster and Tagged exhibited awkward sign-up processes, with Tagged achieving a severe failure score in this area. Tagged required the user to add contacts to the new profile from a personal email account, and pushed for additional personal information like home address and phone number.
* Poor error recovery. Tagged, Facebook, and MySpace all failed to present users with clear error messages that might have helped correct mistakes. Facebook and MySpace presented error messages on registration forms one at a time, forcing users through multiple attempts at submitting their information.
"Customer experience executives and site managers at social networks should take these scores to heart," writes report author Bruce Temkin, vice president and principal analyst for customer experience at Forrester. "While Gen Y consumers might enjoy fun experiences and seek out entertainment more than their elders, young adults want sites that are, first and foremost, easy to use."
Temkin says that there are two components to consider when discussing social networking sites' usability: the immersive experience and the directed experience. "The immersive experience is the reason people, especially kids, spend so much time on social networking sites," he says. In the Forrester paper, he writes, "For young adults, using social networking sites like Friendster and MySpace isn't just another activity to do online--for many, it is their life online. This is because their friends form the central point of their social networking activities, which revolve around communicating--and not media consumption."
The directed experience, on the other hand, is "using social networking for an explicit goal, like finding a friend who knows somebody in the Boston area who works for Microsoft and can get me a job," Temkin says. "A directed goal, like setting up a user profile, is basic to the function of social networking, and it's easier to apply standards and metrics to understand it."
Despite the overall negative evaluation Forrester levied on the social networking sites in its study, a handful of good scores emerged in individual criteria--at least for Facebook, which achieved the study's only four "+2" scores in the following categories:
* Are essential content and function given priority on the page?
* Does text formatting and layout support easy scanning?
* Are form fields and interactive elements placed logically on the page?
* Does site functionality provide clear feedback in response to user actions?
These lessons--both good and bad--can and should be taken to heart for professional communications as well. "According to TechCrunch, it's only a matter of time before Facebook meets the market need and improves its 'relationship' features and becomes more of a business platform," writes Paul Greenberg, author of the book CRM at the Speed of Light, on his blog, "PGreenblog." "What I find interesting is the anecdotal evidence supporting this. I find myself communicating with my business contacts more frequently with Facebook and, more importantly, they answer me a lot faster than either via email or via LinkedIn."
Greenberg also writes that he has "almost [four times] as many contacts on LinkedIn as I do on Facebook, but Facebook seems to do the most important 'business thing' for relationships better--break down the barriers so that the conversations are human. And that is a priceless business benefit."
Source:www.destinationcrm.com
Social networking is a booming medium for online communication, especially among young adults, and therefore a potential gold mine for marketers who can connect to its users. But a new report from Forrester Research shows that even the most popular sites put obstacles in the way of people who wish to sign up and become part of the social networking community--specifically lack of privacy information, poor text legibility, and inefficient task flows.
In the report, "Social Networking Sites Need A Usability Boost," Forrester applied a modified version of its Web-site review methodology to evaluate five social networks--Facebook, Friendster, hi5, MySpace, and Tagged--in terms of how easy it was for a new user to create a profile. Ratings for each of 10 criteria range from -2 (severe failure) to +2 (best practices), leaving a final score between -20 and +20, with +10 considered a passing grade. None of the five sites achieved higher than +4 (Facebook), and the lowest was -5 (Friendster).
According to Forrester, the notable failure points included:
* Lack of privacy and security policies. Four out of the five sites failed to present links to privacy and security policies in context when asking users to provide personal information.
* Text that was difficult to read. Three out of the five sites failed to provide easily readable content and field labels.
* Inefficient task flows. Friendster and Tagged exhibited awkward sign-up processes, with Tagged achieving a severe failure score in this area. Tagged required the user to add contacts to the new profile from a personal email account, and pushed for additional personal information like home address and phone number.
* Poor error recovery. Tagged, Facebook, and MySpace all failed to present users with clear error messages that might have helped correct mistakes. Facebook and MySpace presented error messages on registration forms one at a time, forcing users through multiple attempts at submitting their information.
"Customer experience executives and site managers at social networks should take these scores to heart," writes report author Bruce Temkin, vice president and principal analyst for customer experience at Forrester. "While Gen Y consumers might enjoy fun experiences and seek out entertainment more than their elders, young adults want sites that are, first and foremost, easy to use."
Temkin says that there are two components to consider when discussing social networking sites' usability: the immersive experience and the directed experience. "The immersive experience is the reason people, especially kids, spend so much time on social networking sites," he says. In the Forrester paper, he writes, "For young adults, using social networking sites like Friendster and MySpace isn't just another activity to do online--for many, it is their life online. This is because their friends form the central point of their social networking activities, which revolve around communicating--and not media consumption."
The directed experience, on the other hand, is "using social networking for an explicit goal, like finding a friend who knows somebody in the Boston area who works for Microsoft and can get me a job," Temkin says. "A directed goal, like setting up a user profile, is basic to the function of social networking, and it's easier to apply standards and metrics to understand it."
Despite the overall negative evaluation Forrester levied on the social networking sites in its study, a handful of good scores emerged in individual criteria--at least for Facebook, which achieved the study's only four "+2" scores in the following categories:
* Are essential content and function given priority on the page?
* Does text formatting and layout support easy scanning?
* Are form fields and interactive elements placed logically on the page?
* Does site functionality provide clear feedback in response to user actions?
These lessons--both good and bad--can and should be taken to heart for professional communications as well. "According to TechCrunch, it's only a matter of time before Facebook meets the market need and improves its 'relationship' features and becomes more of a business platform," writes Paul Greenberg, author of the book CRM at the Speed of Light, on his blog, "PGreenblog." "What I find interesting is the anecdotal evidence supporting this. I find myself communicating with my business contacts more frequently with Facebook and, more importantly, they answer me a lot faster than either via email or via LinkedIn."
Greenberg also writes that he has "almost [four times] as many contacts on LinkedIn as I do on Facebook, but Facebook seems to do the most important 'business thing' for relationships better--break down the barriers so that the conversations are human. And that is a priceless business benefit."
Source:www.destinationcrm.com
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Facebook Faces Up
As the social networking behemoth meets new challenges, three startup college networks are waiting in the wings
Facebook has had a rough ride of late. Users complain about the site's frequent shutdowns, with some observers seeing the malfunction as a possible troubling security breach (see BusinessWeek.com, 07/31/07, "Facebook Outage: Wakeup Call").
And though the news media continue to talk about the network's rapid growth and market dominance, commentators have expressed misgivings about Facebook's ability to sustain and monetize that expansion (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/6/07, "Fogeys Flock to Facebook") and (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/6/07, "Too Old for Facebook?").
Now, with founder Mark Zuckerberg heading back to court Aug. 8 to defend himself against accusations that he stole the site's concept from ConnectU, another collegiate social network with its roots at Harvard, the vultures are on the sidelines, flapping their wings.
Staying in School
Not least among them are those looking to fill the void they claim Facebook has left behind by deserting its core audience, college students. According to ComScore, 71% of users are now outside the college age-bracket. As of May, anyone could join the network, whereas users once needed a .edu e-mail address (as proof of college affiliation) to join.
But the demand for student-only online spaces—the very thing that made Facebook take off in the first place—remains. And that's where three ventures by young alumni—Off The Record, CollegeTonight.com, and CollegeWikis.com—hope to come in. Their success and strategy depend on staying loyal to that college niche, and they're looking to find ways to complement rather than compete with the networks students already use.
Niche marketing has been the strategy of choice for many new networks in the last year (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/14/07, "Social Networking Goes Niche"). Users have responded well to being a part of a distinct community, whether grouped by profession, ethnicity, or school. And advertisers like that specificity too.
College-Specific Blogs
Furthermore, research done this April by iProspect shows that among the younger age group, the top social networks have overlapping user-bases. For each of the eight social sites in the report, 30% to 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds surveyed reported some involvement, which means most respondents are frequenting more than one of the sites. According to iProspect, the likely overlap is three to five networks per average student user. If that's true, the niche model just got a whole lot more interesting to mainstream business.
College campuses provide an ideal niche case, not only because they are self-contained, but because they are communities with ample social needs and active online populations. "[They] are probably the best example we've seen of communities that can be easily activated by online media," says Columbia alumnus Doug Imbruce. This September, Imbruce is launching a series of college-specific blogs called Off The Record, where students can post information about their schools, their peers, and their professors and administrators, while using a pseudonym.
Content will be managed by student-editors reporting to an editor-in-chief in Off The Record's New York offices. Though the controlled structure and pseudonyms may seem impersonal, Imbruce promises that editors will be chiefly concerned with controlling logistics, technology, and privacy. He predicts a site culture in which students collectively feel free to post the truth of college life as they see it. By virtue of its selectivity—students can only contribute to their own college's page—Imbruce believes Off The Record is "more intimate" than a larger network or more public blog.
Pep Squad
Given the specificity of the information that will be contained within each blog thread, Imbruce also promises the sites will remain exclusive to each college. "We're looking to create college sites," he says. "We may add more content, sports scores, and news, but we will stay vertical within these communities."
Student-exclusive networks provide users with a sense of importance: It's easy to become a big fish in a small, students-only pond. Emory University alumus Zach Suchin hopes to capitalize on this desire. His venture, CollegeTonight.com, will establish distinct networks for each U.S. college, where students can post information about parties, concerts, and social events, download contact lists to their mobile phones, and make plans to meet up. In September, CollegeTonight will launch a nine-month nightlife tour of 129 sponsored events at colleges across the country. Business partners already include car manufacturer Subaru (JASDAQ) and CBS (CBS), which will sponsor the concerts and parties on the tour in the hope of reaching Suchin's user base.
Suchin proposes the site as a tool chiefly for "the trendsetters and the tastemakers" and, notably, wealthy students with disposable income (the tour begins at Ivy League schools Yale and Brown). And it's actively promoting a sense of exclusivity and privacy. Former FBI profiler John Douglas crafted the site's privacy settings and users must have a .edu e-mail to join. "That will never change." Suchin says. "We're trying to create the sense of community that Facebook abandoned."
Weaning Away From Facebook
As it turns out, for now at least, students are loath to leave the network that still dominates online socializing. "Facebook has such a strong hold on the college social networking market that people are [still] interested in developing things for Facebook," explains Joe DiPasquale, founder of CollegeWikis.com. He hopes to strike a balance by creating college-specific sites with a widget that links to Facebook.
On CollegeWikis.com, students can e-mail questions about local restaurants, classes, and dorm life. Each question and e-mailed response from other students becomes instant content on the Wikipedia-style Web site, a viral format that DiPasquale believes students are more likely to use than mass administrative e-mails, which most students simply delete. Since its launch in April, CollegeWikis has expanded to 60 schools nationwide and achieved 15% penetration at some campuses.
Meanwhile, on CollegeWikis.com's sponsored Facebook application, SuperWall, users post college-specific information that is instantly communicated to the virtual message walls of other registered users at their college. SuperWall is currently one of Facebook's 10 most popular applications.
Room for Everyone
Again, the appeal of CollegeWikis.com is its specificity. A site is created for any college if a student submits a request to the central wiki page. Within that wiki, users can join or create lists for their major, their class, and their dorm. Already the average college wiki page has 216 more-specific lists. Says DiPasquale, "When we did focus groups, we found people wanted the sites as specific as they could be."
DiPasquale's dual approach to advertising and site sponsorship—be authentic, be transparent—epitomizes these niche networks' business model. Young consumers are expert multi-taskers so there is room for multiple offerings within their expanding online life. These three young entrepreneurs hope their offerings will complement one another and Facebook, creating more business for all of them. Says Off the Record's Imbruce, "Media in this group [are] additive and not really competitive." Though he's talking about college students, the insight applies to online business overall.
Source:www.businessweek.com
Facebook has had a rough ride of late. Users complain about the site's frequent shutdowns, with some observers seeing the malfunction as a possible troubling security breach (see BusinessWeek.com, 07/31/07, "Facebook Outage: Wakeup Call").
And though the news media continue to talk about the network's rapid growth and market dominance, commentators have expressed misgivings about Facebook's ability to sustain and monetize that expansion (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/6/07, "Fogeys Flock to Facebook") and (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/6/07, "Too Old for Facebook?").
Now, with founder Mark Zuckerberg heading back to court Aug. 8 to defend himself against accusations that he stole the site's concept from ConnectU, another collegiate social network with its roots at Harvard, the vultures are on the sidelines, flapping their wings.
Staying in School
Not least among them are those looking to fill the void they claim Facebook has left behind by deserting its core audience, college students. According to ComScore, 71% of users are now outside the college age-bracket. As of May, anyone could join the network, whereas users once needed a .edu e-mail address (as proof of college affiliation) to join.
But the demand for student-only online spaces—the very thing that made Facebook take off in the first place—remains. And that's where three ventures by young alumni—Off The Record, CollegeTonight.com, and CollegeWikis.com—hope to come in. Their success and strategy depend on staying loyal to that college niche, and they're looking to find ways to complement rather than compete with the networks students already use.
Niche marketing has been the strategy of choice for many new networks in the last year (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/14/07, "Social Networking Goes Niche"). Users have responded well to being a part of a distinct community, whether grouped by profession, ethnicity, or school. And advertisers like that specificity too.
College-Specific Blogs
Furthermore, research done this April by iProspect shows that among the younger age group, the top social networks have overlapping user-bases. For each of the eight social sites in the report, 30% to 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds surveyed reported some involvement, which means most respondents are frequenting more than one of the sites. According to iProspect, the likely overlap is three to five networks per average student user. If that's true, the niche model just got a whole lot more interesting to mainstream business.
College campuses provide an ideal niche case, not only because they are self-contained, but because they are communities with ample social needs and active online populations. "[They] are probably the best example we've seen of communities that can be easily activated by online media," says Columbia alumnus Doug Imbruce. This September, Imbruce is launching a series of college-specific blogs called Off The Record, where students can post information about their schools, their peers, and their professors and administrators, while using a pseudonym.
Content will be managed by student-editors reporting to an editor-in-chief in Off The Record's New York offices. Though the controlled structure and pseudonyms may seem impersonal, Imbruce promises that editors will be chiefly concerned with controlling logistics, technology, and privacy. He predicts a site culture in which students collectively feel free to post the truth of college life as they see it. By virtue of its selectivity—students can only contribute to their own college's page—Imbruce believes Off The Record is "more intimate" than a larger network or more public blog.
Pep Squad
Given the specificity of the information that will be contained within each blog thread, Imbruce also promises the sites will remain exclusive to each college. "We're looking to create college sites," he says. "We may add more content, sports scores, and news, but we will stay vertical within these communities."
Student-exclusive networks provide users with a sense of importance: It's easy to become a big fish in a small, students-only pond. Emory University alumus Zach Suchin hopes to capitalize on this desire. His venture, CollegeTonight.com, will establish distinct networks for each U.S. college, where students can post information about parties, concerts, and social events, download contact lists to their mobile phones, and make plans to meet up. In September, CollegeTonight will launch a nine-month nightlife tour of 129 sponsored events at colleges across the country. Business partners already include car manufacturer Subaru (JASDAQ) and CBS (CBS), which will sponsor the concerts and parties on the tour in the hope of reaching Suchin's user base.
Suchin proposes the site as a tool chiefly for "the trendsetters and the tastemakers" and, notably, wealthy students with disposable income (the tour begins at Ivy League schools Yale and Brown). And it's actively promoting a sense of exclusivity and privacy. Former FBI profiler John Douglas crafted the site's privacy settings and users must have a .edu e-mail to join. "That will never change." Suchin says. "We're trying to create the sense of community that Facebook abandoned."
Weaning Away From Facebook
As it turns out, for now at least, students are loath to leave the network that still dominates online socializing. "Facebook has such a strong hold on the college social networking market that people are [still] interested in developing things for Facebook," explains Joe DiPasquale, founder of CollegeWikis.com. He hopes to strike a balance by creating college-specific sites with a widget that links to Facebook.
On CollegeWikis.com, students can e-mail questions about local restaurants, classes, and dorm life. Each question and e-mailed response from other students becomes instant content on the Wikipedia-style Web site, a viral format that DiPasquale believes students are more likely to use than mass administrative e-mails, which most students simply delete. Since its launch in April, CollegeWikis has expanded to 60 schools nationwide and achieved 15% penetration at some campuses.
Meanwhile, on CollegeWikis.com's sponsored Facebook application, SuperWall, users post college-specific information that is instantly communicated to the virtual message walls of other registered users at their college. SuperWall is currently one of Facebook's 10 most popular applications.
Room for Everyone
Again, the appeal of CollegeWikis.com is its specificity. A site is created for any college if a student submits a request to the central wiki page. Within that wiki, users can join or create lists for their major, their class, and their dorm. Already the average college wiki page has 216 more-specific lists. Says DiPasquale, "When we did focus groups, we found people wanted the sites as specific as they could be."
DiPasquale's dual approach to advertising and site sponsorship—be authentic, be transparent—epitomizes these niche networks' business model. Young consumers are expert multi-taskers so there is room for multiple offerings within their expanding online life. These three young entrepreneurs hope their offerings will complement one another and Facebook, creating more business for all of them. Says Off the Record's Imbruce, "Media in this group [are] additive and not really competitive." Though he's talking about college students, the insight applies to online business overall.
Source:www.businessweek.com
Education 2.0: The Best Social Networks for Students
Back when your parents were in school, they actually had to initiate in-person conversations if they wanted a social life. Of course, that was when they weren't walking two miles to school, in the snow, uphill -- both ways.
You pesky kids have it so easy these days with your darn social networks!
Online social networks have certainly made it easier to make -- and stay in touch with -- school friends. Whether you're trying to get back in touch with an old school posse, or looking for a new one, the process is less risky and can often be more fruitful when it happens online. And it can help you find the right group, too. Why be alone this fall when you could be getting together with fellow members of the "Emo Is The New Rad" group on Bebo?
But no matter how big of a slacker you are, you surely won't have time for all the social networks out there. No worries. There is no need to pledge allegiance to just one. At last year's Web 2.0 Summit, Marc Canter, chief executive officer for Broadband Mechanics, estimated that the average user is an active member of five social networks.
So if you're going to choose five, you might as well be judicious in your selection. Here are Wired News' top picks.
MySpace
Despite a reputation for being trashy, ugly and over-hyped, MySpace is still the largest social network out there. In June, the site claimed 70 million active users, with one in four Americans having logged in at some point. Teenage members dominate the site, which is why MySpace has the unfortunate reputation of being a breeding ground for pedophiles. Forrester Research reports that 80 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds use MySpace weekly.
WIRED This year MySpace added a page for the 2008 presidential candidates, as well as a MySpace News page, which could be helpful for your history courses.
TIRED It's doubtful that its users will ever take MySpace that seriously. A quick browse through the site will leave you with more hoochie mamas than you'll ever have time for.
Facebook
Even though Facebook started out for students only, more than half of the site's users are out of college, meaning your membership should still be useful after graduation. Currently, the site has 47,000 regional, collegiate and high school groups populated by 31 million active users. In preparation for the inevitable roommate clash, don't forget to join CouchSwap, a new travel application made specifically for Facebook. It lets you offer, find and rate couches to crash on. Perfect for the urban nomads of the world!
WIRED Within university groups, there are subgroups organized by dorms, colleges, hobbies, food affiliations, political opinion, you name it. If you can't find friends within your groups of interest, your keyboard may not be plugged in.
TIRED As Facebook grows, so does the number of random groups that seem to have no application for your real social life. Unless you really do want to meet other Rubik's cube enthusiasts.
LinkedIn
There is nothing cute or sexy about LinkedIn, but when it comes time to wean yourself from the parentals, you'll be thankful for this more business-oriented network. LinkedIn has over 12.5 million users and is growing at a rate of approximately 200,000 per week. Think LinkedIn is too uncool if you're still in school? Guess again: "Students can use LinkedIn to find mentors and to perform research," said Kay Luo, a spokesperson for LinkedIn. "It's a great place to find industry contacts for research papers and case studies. It's wise to establish relationships and maintain your network before you need it."
WIRED Nearly half of LinkedIn's users are over 34, meaning they have the money and power to get you a job.
TIRED Once you make useful contacts, what do you do with them? You can't share much content on LinkedIn beyond a souped-up resume, so be sure you get real contact information along with your introductions. Then invite your new contacts to Facebook -- it'll make them feel young and hip.
Bebo
When you're ready to network outside of the United States, Bebo is a good place to start. It is the third-largest social network in the space, with the majority of its users in the U.K.
WIRED Bebo is great for music lovers: The site links directly to iTunes music. Bebo Bands, which launched in July 2006, is the home of over 20,000 group and artist profiles.
TIRED It isn't that easy to find friends. Bebo will search through your address book for people you already know, but finding new friends by location or interest is not that easy if you don't join groups.
Hi5
Another way to make friends beyond the 50 states is hi5, a social network with over 60 million registered members. "Since members post photos and content about themselves, new students can get to know each other better using hi5," said Ramu Yalamanchi, chief executive officer for hi5. "They can also stay in touch and see how summer break was spent." The site is the number one social-networking location in Mexico, South America and Central America. Yalamanchi said 30 percent of hi5 members are from Europe, 25 percent from hispanohablantes, or Spanish speaking markets, and 23 percent from North America.
WIRED Most hi5ers are between 15 to 25 years old, making it useful for back-to-school time.
TIRED If you don't habla Español, hi5 may not be for you.
Friendster
Poor Friendster has a bit of a social-network-that-was reputation, but it still has over 47 million users in 75 countries. It may not dominate the American social-networking market but it has a strong international presence. The site had 9.5 billion page views in June, with the average user staying online for 208 minutes.
"In the back-to-school period, it kicks into overdrive," said Jeff Roberto, a spokesperson for Friendster. "On the homepage, you can add up to three schools and three colleges to your profile. Every time you add a school, we go and find the same people that went to that school during the same years and pull all those profiles to you so that you can discover new people and new content relevant to your school."
Since Friendster requires users be at least 16 to sign up, it is less useful for high school students than for college and post-college students.
WIRED School-centric profile searches makes it easy to find new friends at your new school -- or old friends at your old school.
TIRED Users in the United States tend to use Friendster less for communication, and more for simply posting updates about themselves and their friends. Comments are more of an ode to your friends than an actual timely message.
Craigslist
If all else fails, there's always craigslist. Lonely? You can post a personal this morning and get a couple dozen come-ons from strangers by this afternoon. Plus, you can also use the site to find activist groups, arts events, theater companies desperate for your juggling skills or that single-speed Bianchi you've been craving.
WIRED No photos, songs, blogs, friends, recommendations, pokes, walls, groups, videos, widgets or background graphics to distract you.
TIRED No photos, songs, blogs, friends, recommendations, pokes, walls, groups, videos, widgets or background graphics to entertain you.
Source:www.wired.com
You pesky kids have it so easy these days with your darn social networks!
Online social networks have certainly made it easier to make -- and stay in touch with -- school friends. Whether you're trying to get back in touch with an old school posse, or looking for a new one, the process is less risky and can often be more fruitful when it happens online. And it can help you find the right group, too. Why be alone this fall when you could be getting together with fellow members of the "Emo Is The New Rad" group on Bebo?
But no matter how big of a slacker you are, you surely won't have time for all the social networks out there. No worries. There is no need to pledge allegiance to just one. At last year's Web 2.0 Summit, Marc Canter, chief executive officer for Broadband Mechanics, estimated that the average user is an active member of five social networks.
So if you're going to choose five, you might as well be judicious in your selection. Here are Wired News' top picks.
MySpace
Despite a reputation for being trashy, ugly and over-hyped, MySpace is still the largest social network out there. In June, the site claimed 70 million active users, with one in four Americans having logged in at some point. Teenage members dominate the site, which is why MySpace has the unfortunate reputation of being a breeding ground for pedophiles. Forrester Research reports that 80 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds use MySpace weekly.
WIRED This year MySpace added a page for the 2008 presidential candidates, as well as a MySpace News page, which could be helpful for your history courses.
TIRED It's doubtful that its users will ever take MySpace that seriously. A quick browse through the site will leave you with more hoochie mamas than you'll ever have time for.
Even though Facebook started out for students only, more than half of the site's users are out of college, meaning your membership should still be useful after graduation. Currently, the site has 47,000 regional, collegiate and high school groups populated by 31 million active users. In preparation for the inevitable roommate clash, don't forget to join CouchSwap, a new travel application made specifically for Facebook. It lets you offer, find and rate couches to crash on. Perfect for the urban nomads of the world!
WIRED Within university groups, there are subgroups organized by dorms, colleges, hobbies, food affiliations, political opinion, you name it. If you can't find friends within your groups of interest, your keyboard may not be plugged in.
TIRED As Facebook grows, so does the number of random groups that seem to have no application for your real social life. Unless you really do want to meet other Rubik's cube enthusiasts.
There is nothing cute or sexy about LinkedIn, but when it comes time to wean yourself from the parentals, you'll be thankful for this more business-oriented network. LinkedIn has over 12.5 million users and is growing at a rate of approximately 200,000 per week. Think LinkedIn is too uncool if you're still in school? Guess again: "Students can use LinkedIn to find mentors and to perform research," said Kay Luo, a spokesperson for LinkedIn. "It's a great place to find industry contacts for research papers and case studies. It's wise to establish relationships and maintain your network before you need it."
WIRED Nearly half of LinkedIn's users are over 34, meaning they have the money and power to get you a job.
TIRED Once you make useful contacts, what do you do with them? You can't share much content on LinkedIn beyond a souped-up resume, so be sure you get real contact information along with your introductions. Then invite your new contacts to Facebook -- it'll make them feel young and hip.
Bebo
When you're ready to network outside of the United States, Bebo is a good place to start. It is the third-largest social network in the space, with the majority of its users in the U.K.
WIRED Bebo is great for music lovers: The site links directly to iTunes music. Bebo Bands, which launched in July 2006, is the home of over 20,000 group and artist profiles.
TIRED It isn't that easy to find friends. Bebo will search through your address book for people you already know, but finding new friends by location or interest is not that easy if you don't join groups.
Hi5
Another way to make friends beyond the 50 states is hi5, a social network with over 60 million registered members. "Since members post photos and content about themselves, new students can get to know each other better using hi5," said Ramu Yalamanchi, chief executive officer for hi5. "They can also stay in touch and see how summer break was spent." The site is the number one social-networking location in Mexico, South America and Central America. Yalamanchi said 30 percent of hi5 members are from Europe, 25 percent from hispanohablantes, or Spanish speaking markets, and 23 percent from North America.
WIRED Most hi5ers are between 15 to 25 years old, making it useful for back-to-school time.
TIRED If you don't habla Español, hi5 may not be for you.
Friendster
Poor Friendster has a bit of a social-network-that-was reputation, but it still has over 47 million users in 75 countries. It may not dominate the American social-networking market but it has a strong international presence. The site had 9.5 billion page views in June, with the average user staying online for 208 minutes.
"In the back-to-school period, it kicks into overdrive," said Jeff Roberto, a spokesperson for Friendster. "On the homepage, you can add up to three schools and three colleges to your profile. Every time you add a school, we go and find the same people that went to that school during the same years and pull all those profiles to you so that you can discover new people and new content relevant to your school."
Since Friendster requires users be at least 16 to sign up, it is less useful for high school students than for college and post-college students.
WIRED School-centric profile searches makes it easy to find new friends at your new school -- or old friends at your old school.
TIRED Users in the United States tend to use Friendster less for communication, and more for simply posting updates about themselves and their friends. Comments are more of an ode to your friends than an actual timely message.
Craigslist
If all else fails, there's always craigslist. Lonely? You can post a personal this morning and get a couple dozen come-ons from strangers by this afternoon. Plus, you can also use the site to find activist groups, arts events, theater companies desperate for your juggling skills or that single-speed Bianchi you've been craving.
WIRED No photos, songs, blogs, friends, recommendations, pokes, walls, groups, videos, widgets or background graphics to distract you.
TIRED No photos, songs, blogs, friends, recommendations, pokes, walls, groups, videos, widgets or background graphics to entertain you.
Source:www.wired.com
Wired: A Social Network Primer
Here's a good quick read from Wired for the social networking uninitiated and newbies alike. Natalie Del Conte takes a thumbnail look at Wired News' top social network picks: MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Friendster.
• MySpace gets props for its 2008 presidential candidates page and news page, though "it's doubtful that its users will ever take MySpace that seriously."
• Since half of Facebook's users are out of college, it will remain useful for connecting with friends long after college is over.
• Nearly half of LinkedIn's members are over 34, so they are in a position to hire you when you need a job. Once you make contact with them, Del Conte recommends that you "invite your new contacts to Facebook—it'll make them feel young and hip."
• Bebo is for music lovers, Friendster still has 47 million users in 75 countries despite its rep as a has-been social network, and Hi5 is the number-one social network in Mexico, South America, and Central America.
Source:www.yahoo.com
• MySpace gets props for its 2008 presidential candidates page and news page, though "it's doubtful that its users will ever take MySpace that seriously."
• Since half of Facebook's users are out of college, it will remain useful for connecting with friends long after college is over.
• Nearly half of LinkedIn's members are over 34, so they are in a position to hire you when you need a job. Once you make contact with them, Del Conte recommends that you "invite your new contacts to Facebook—it'll make them feel young and hip."
• Bebo is for music lovers, Friendster still has 47 million users in 75 countries despite its rep as a has-been social network, and Hi5 is the number-one social network in Mexico, South America, and Central America.
Source:www.yahoo.com
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Zamano in strategic link-up with Bebo
Irish consumer-focused mobile software company Zamano has developed a new mobile video messaging widget for Bebo users and has confirmed that it is investigating strategic deals with other social networking players, including MySpace and Facebook. “Our angle on it is that we think there’s a great need now to build on the confluence between mobile and fixed line,” explained John O’Shea, chief executive of the AIM-listed company.
“Most people spend time online but would like to stay in contact with their social networks when they’re away from the desk, and the mobile phone is the way to do that. We are investing in creating linkages with social networking sites.
“We’ve developed a widget you can download on to a Bebo profile and you can send and receive video, voice and text messages. It’s beginning to be as popular as text messaging.
“It’s the next step forward and people are leaving video messages all the time. It’s a free upgrade to a widget that more than 20,000 people are using. They can leave a video or voice mail on your Bebo page. The future development will see them be able to leave these messages on your mobile,” O’Shea explained.
O’Shea said the ability to leave Bebo voice and video messages on mobiles is currently being held up by high data costs among mobile operators. “But from what we’re seeing Irish mobile operators are following the lead of UK operators and are reducing the costs of mobile data. Soon people won’t have to think too much about their WAP usage on handsets.
“They will soon be spending lots of time browsing on their handsets without fretting about costs.”
O’Shea described Zamano’s relationship with Bebo as a commercial relationship whereby Zamano’s activity helps to drive advertising to its site. “The widgets we develop cost only €2 to buy as well as revenue from premium SMS traffic that is generated.”
O’Shea concluded by confirming that Zamano is investigating similar arrangements with social networking sites MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.
On Friday Zamano reported strong trading and expects to report approximately 15pc EBITDA growth for H1 2007 versus the same period last year. EBITDA in H2 2007 will benefit from a full six months’ contribution from the successful integration of mobile firm Eirborne, which is performing ahead of expectations.
Source:www.siliconrepublic.com
“Most people spend time online but would like to stay in contact with their social networks when they’re away from the desk, and the mobile phone is the way to do that. We are investing in creating linkages with social networking sites.
“We’ve developed a widget you can download on to a Bebo profile and you can send and receive video, voice and text messages. It’s beginning to be as popular as text messaging.
“It’s the next step forward and people are leaving video messages all the time. It’s a free upgrade to a widget that more than 20,000 people are using. They can leave a video or voice mail on your Bebo page. The future development will see them be able to leave these messages on your mobile,” O’Shea explained.
O’Shea said the ability to leave Bebo voice and video messages on mobiles is currently being held up by high data costs among mobile operators. “But from what we’re seeing Irish mobile operators are following the lead of UK operators and are reducing the costs of mobile data. Soon people won’t have to think too much about their WAP usage on handsets.
“They will soon be spending lots of time browsing on their handsets without fretting about costs.”
O’Shea described Zamano’s relationship with Bebo as a commercial relationship whereby Zamano’s activity helps to drive advertising to its site. “The widgets we develop cost only €2 to buy as well as revenue from premium SMS traffic that is generated.”
O’Shea concluded by confirming that Zamano is investigating similar arrangements with social networking sites MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.
On Friday Zamano reported strong trading and expects to report approximately 15pc EBITDA growth for H1 2007 versus the same period last year. EBITDA in H2 2007 will benefit from a full six months’ contribution from the successful integration of mobile firm Eirborne, which is performing ahead of expectations.
Source:www.siliconrepublic.com
The global face of social networking
A new report from comScore reveals that several of the major social networking sites have experienced dramatic growth over the past year, and the trend is global.
Social networking continues to rise in popularity with Internet users across the globe. Recent figures released by comScore reveal huge rises in the number of visitors to the largest of the social networks. What was once considered a fad now attracts audiences that put it in the mainstream.
"Typically we see that, whenever that happens, advertisers will follow the eyeballs,” said comScore’s EVP Jack Flanagan, via Clickz.
Tagged.com experienced the highest rate of growth, up 774 percent, visitors rose from 1,506 last June, to 13,167 this June. During the same period Facebook achieved a 270 percent growth rate, Bebo 172 percent and MySpace 72 percent. MySpace attracted almost 114 million visitors during June, 2007.
The popularity of a social networking site appears to be dependent on the audience's geographic region. Both MySpace and Facebook attract predominately North American audiences, around two-thirds according to comScore.
Bebo is the choice of European social networkers with 63 percent of its users coming from that region and Friendster attracts 89 percent of its audience from Asia-Pacific.
Orkut is the darling of users in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American countries, according to the report.
"Literally hundreds of millions of people around the world are visiting social networking sites each month and many are doing so on a daily basis," said Bob Ivins, ComScore’s EVP of international markets.
"It would appear that social networking is not a fad but rather an activity that is being woven into the very fabric of the global internet," added Ivins.
Source:www.bizreport.com
Social networking continues to rise in popularity with Internet users across the globe. Recent figures released by comScore reveal huge rises in the number of visitors to the largest of the social networks. What was once considered a fad now attracts audiences that put it in the mainstream.
"Typically we see that, whenever that happens, advertisers will follow the eyeballs,” said comScore’s EVP Jack Flanagan, via Clickz.
Tagged.com experienced the highest rate of growth, up 774 percent, visitors rose from 1,506 last June, to 13,167 this June. During the same period Facebook achieved a 270 percent growth rate, Bebo 172 percent and MySpace 72 percent. MySpace attracted almost 114 million visitors during June, 2007.
The popularity of a social networking site appears to be dependent on the audience's geographic region. Both MySpace and Facebook attract predominately North American audiences, around two-thirds according to comScore.
Bebo is the choice of European social networkers with 63 percent of its users coming from that region and Friendster attracts 89 percent of its audience from Asia-Pacific.
Orkut is the darling of users in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American countries, according to the report.
"Literally hundreds of millions of people around the world are visiting social networking sites each month and many are doing so on a daily basis," said Bob Ivins, ComScore’s EVP of international markets.
"It would appear that social networking is not a fad but rather an activity that is being woven into the very fabric of the global internet," added Ivins.
Source:www.bizreport.com
Recruiters scour social networking sites - Indian Overview
Orkut, Linkin, Facebook and other similar popular social networking sites are fast doubling up as the modern day employment exchanges with job seekers as well as companies and recruiters head hunting for talent.
The social networking sites, immensely popular with the netizens, especially the young, are having number of ‘communities’ helping both job seekers and employers.
“Searching for the right person for a job is always a challenge,” says Gauri Sarin of Approach Talent Solutions. “So, there is a rising trend among the companies and recruitment agencies to use social networking sites to look for the right person,” she adds.
With 100 million Internet users in the country, India is now the fourth largest country in terms of Internet penetration, a recent Assocham study points out.
According to Assocham, E-recruitment is gaining ground as a preferred medium of hiring in India. Especially for job seekers, the Internet has opened up the world of job searching, turning it into a 24-hour-a day market place. Internet is arguably the most immediate, convenient and comprehensive medium for employment seekers to research for jobs.
While searching for ‘jobs', communities like Orkut throw up about a 1,000 odd related communities such as 'IT jobs India walk-ins','Freshers','Retail Jobs in India', 'Walk in for Jobs', Job Sampark' etc.
Staffing services providers like Cloud 9 India, Pathway Recruitment Agency use such sites as a platform to hire. They have links to their own websites.
Populated with thousands of members each of these communities have a huge database of job seekers and can reach them within seconds. “Of all new services on the Internet, social networking sites are most promising because these community-driven sites have the ability to leverage their user base across other verticals,” says R Sunder, president, Times Business Solutions.
He adds, “Most of the growth in the social networking space has happened in the last one year. It will continue to accelerate as more people gain high-speed Internet access. It has come down to mobile phones and with web 2.0 coming to market, the future seems to be limited only by the imagination.”
Young people are making most of it. Says Neha Kapoor, a fresh graduate from Kanpur, “I got a job in one of the best BPOs in Delhi thanks to a ‘scrap’,” a term used by Orkut to describe the messages that are posted on the net.
B Sudhir, software engineer, 25, moderator of a community ‘Walk in for Jobs’ in Orkut says, “I started this community as a hobby. Having gone through the hardships of finding a job, I wanted to create a platform for freshers.”
His community claims to have membership of over 30,000 members. Sudhir says, “Other than the recruitment agencies, many corporate houses directly post their requirements on the site.”
He also has a blog whose members receive job opening postings in their mail boxes. Although most of these services are free yet there are ways to monitise these communities by dividing the jobs into free and paid categories, in which the recruiter pays for some specific advertisements.
There are many networking sites other than Orkut such as Facebook, Myspace,Yaari among other popular professional networking sites like Linkin, Ecademy, Doostang, Xing, Plaxo, et al.
Linkin, a business oriented social networking site, is mainly used for professional networking, with a membership base of 12 million across 400 economic zones it is very popular in the US. Linkin allows regular users to maintain list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. It is now fast catching up in India.
“Such sites cater to those who require fresh blood like BPO’s and especially IT industry. While Linkin is effective for the senior levels,” says Sarin.
According to Assocham survey, junior,mid-level and senior executives accounted for more than 50 per cent of the online job seekers.
Also 46 per cent of the online job seekers fall between 26 to 35 age group. Thus with an estimated 120 million Indians logging on to the net in 2007-08, head hunting through networking sites is a trend that will only increase.
“While social networking is one of the current mainstream media buzzwords, in the recruitment and staffing space it is all about helping employers to find and match candidates to open job positions and build a talent pool. Whether social networking is the answer to recruitment is yet to be seen,"says Sunder.
Source:www.onrec.com
The social networking sites, immensely popular with the netizens, especially the young, are having number of ‘communities’ helping both job seekers and employers.
“Searching for the right person for a job is always a challenge,” says Gauri Sarin of Approach Talent Solutions. “So, there is a rising trend among the companies and recruitment agencies to use social networking sites to look for the right person,” she adds.
With 100 million Internet users in the country, India is now the fourth largest country in terms of Internet penetration, a recent Assocham study points out.
According to Assocham, E-recruitment is gaining ground as a preferred medium of hiring in India. Especially for job seekers, the Internet has opened up the world of job searching, turning it into a 24-hour-a day market place. Internet is arguably the most immediate, convenient and comprehensive medium for employment seekers to research for jobs.
While searching for ‘jobs', communities like Orkut throw up about a 1,000 odd related communities such as 'IT jobs India walk-ins','Freshers','Retail Jobs in India', 'Walk in for Jobs', Job Sampark' etc.
Staffing services providers like Cloud 9 India, Pathway Recruitment Agency use such sites as a platform to hire. They have links to their own websites.
Populated with thousands of members each of these communities have a huge database of job seekers and can reach them within seconds. “Of all new services on the Internet, social networking sites are most promising because these community-driven sites have the ability to leverage their user base across other verticals,” says R Sunder, president, Times Business Solutions.
He adds, “Most of the growth in the social networking space has happened in the last one year. It will continue to accelerate as more people gain high-speed Internet access. It has come down to mobile phones and with web 2.0 coming to market, the future seems to be limited only by the imagination.”
Young people are making most of it. Says Neha Kapoor, a fresh graduate from Kanpur, “I got a job in one of the best BPOs in Delhi thanks to a ‘scrap’,” a term used by Orkut to describe the messages that are posted on the net.
B Sudhir, software engineer, 25, moderator of a community ‘Walk in for Jobs’ in Orkut says, “I started this community as a hobby. Having gone through the hardships of finding a job, I wanted to create a platform for freshers.”
His community claims to have membership of over 30,000 members. Sudhir says, “Other than the recruitment agencies, many corporate houses directly post their requirements on the site.”
He also has a blog whose members receive job opening postings in their mail boxes. Although most of these services are free yet there are ways to monitise these communities by dividing the jobs into free and paid categories, in which the recruiter pays for some specific advertisements.
There are many networking sites other than Orkut such as Facebook, Myspace,Yaari among other popular professional networking sites like Linkin, Ecademy, Doostang, Xing, Plaxo, et al.
Linkin, a business oriented social networking site, is mainly used for professional networking, with a membership base of 12 million across 400 economic zones it is very popular in the US. Linkin allows regular users to maintain list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. It is now fast catching up in India.
“Such sites cater to those who require fresh blood like BPO’s and especially IT industry. While Linkin is effective for the senior levels,” says Sarin.
According to Assocham survey, junior,mid-level and senior executives accounted for more than 50 per cent of the online job seekers.
Also 46 per cent of the online job seekers fall between 26 to 35 age group. Thus with an estimated 120 million Indians logging on to the net in 2007-08, head hunting through networking sites is a trend that will only increase.
“While social networking is one of the current mainstream media buzzwords, in the recruitment and staffing space it is all about helping employers to find and match candidates to open job positions and build a talent pool. Whether social networking is the answer to recruitment is yet to be seen,"says Sunder.
Source:www.onrec.com
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Social networks: what goes out, what goes in
“Social Networking 3.0″ was on the agenda this afternoon at the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit. This one was a “must watch” for me, as will be Dan Farber’s later today on “The Democratization of Media.” You can follow along with the conference’s live Webcast here.
Moderator Charlene Li, senior analyst for Forrester Research, was joined by Travis Katz, senior vice president and general manager of MySpace International; Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook; Rich Rosenblatt, CEO of Demand Media and former MySpace executive; Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning; and Karl Jacob, CEO of Wallop. Dan blogged the panel on Between the Lines, and as he writes most of the discussion focused the future of social networks. I was most interested in the comments concerning social networks and identity, attention, and intellectual property.
On the identity front, Charlene Li stated the truism that maintaining identities across different social networks is “a pain,” and wondered when the social networks we see today will become more open. Facebook’s Dustin Moskovitz recognized that portable identities are necessary, but didn’t go into particulars of how Facebook is or will be addressing this. Rich Rosenblatt said they talk internally at Demand Media about “the portable profile,” and says Demand Media is working on letting users log in with a single profile then select from a mix of options as to where they want to be. (My impression was he was not talking about navigating out of the Demand Media environment.) MySpace’s Travis Katz is interested by the notion of OpenID and a single, portable identity, but thinks it’s “complicated” to make it happen. And Gina Bianchini challenged the notion that social networking users want a single, inflexible identity to follow them around: “Your wakeboarding social network is fundamentally different from your independent journalist one. People in the real world have different sides of themselves that they show to different groups, different people, different communities.” She makes a good point, and I think the digital identity community is on top of that nuance. (Though Tantek Çelik Twittered me to ask about their plans, if any, for using microformats as an open portability standard, sadly I didn’t get the nod from the microphone handler.)
On the attention front, in response to the question “Where’s the money going to come from?” the panelists answered with nearly a single voice: targeted advertising. But transactions based on user desires and intentions are on the radar as well:
Travis Katz: the advertising model on social networks is going to be here a long time. Other models will probably emerge too. MySpace is looking at ecommerce models. You always feel better buying from a trusted source. When you talk about transactions between individuals, there’s a commerce opportunity there too.
Karl Jacob: Wallop is all transaction, no advertising. We believe there’s a world down the road where you buy the things you need to dress up your profile and the applications you want to use. Akin to the ringtone market.
Gina Bianchini: If I had to choose between the ringtone market and targeted advertising, I’d choose targeted advertising. There’s a huge opportunity to bring what is happening with AdWords into social networks. If you take a monetization model that’s working today and generating significant amounts of money, and apply it to a market that is only going to get bigger and more sophisticated as far as targeted advertising, it gets very interesting.
Finally, on the subject of intellectual property, when asked what was missing from the social networking ecosystem and what he would invest in if given the opportunity, Rich Rosenblatt commented on the need for what I would call a “third estate” of media: outside the copyright and use limitations of the products of the big studios, labels, and publishing houses, and yet a step above one person’s photos, films, etc. made primarily for personal use. A class of media produced and designed for Web distribution. Gina Bianchini challenged the notion that “amateur” media can’t comprise this third estate:
Rich Rosenblatt: We’d like to see more content actually made for the Internet. There are two layers of content. Studio generated (lots of trouble and fighting there), and user generated but not usable (one guy’s photos of himself). We’d like to see content that more than a few people want to see.
Gina Bianchini: I would argue that that’s happening today. On YouTube some of that gets lost in the crowd, but put it in a community of really interested people, and it’s very powerful.
Rich Rosenblatt, to Gina: But if you could buy wakeboarding content for your wakeboarding social network, wouldn’t that be great?
Gina Bianchini: From my perspective, one of the benefits of social networks is you and your friends can watch your own stuff. Another benefit is the good stuff rises to the top. I would rather have the material be truly user generated.
Karl Wallop: the good content and the good applications will all come from the current and up and coming generations of users.
Source:http://blogs.zdnet.com
Moderator Charlene Li, senior analyst for Forrester Research, was joined by Travis Katz, senior vice president and general manager of MySpace International; Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook; Rich Rosenblatt, CEO of Demand Media and former MySpace executive; Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning; and Karl Jacob, CEO of Wallop. Dan blogged the panel on Between the Lines, and as he writes most of the discussion focused the future of social networks. I was most interested in the comments concerning social networks and identity, attention, and intellectual property.
On the identity front, Charlene Li stated the truism that maintaining identities across different social networks is “a pain,” and wondered when the social networks we see today will become more open. Facebook’s Dustin Moskovitz recognized that portable identities are necessary, but didn’t go into particulars of how Facebook is or will be addressing this. Rich Rosenblatt said they talk internally at Demand Media about “the portable profile,” and says Demand Media is working on letting users log in with a single profile then select from a mix of options as to where they want to be. (My impression was he was not talking about navigating out of the Demand Media environment.) MySpace’s Travis Katz is interested by the notion of OpenID and a single, portable identity, but thinks it’s “complicated” to make it happen. And Gina Bianchini challenged the notion that social networking users want a single, inflexible identity to follow them around: “Your wakeboarding social network is fundamentally different from your independent journalist one. People in the real world have different sides of themselves that they show to different groups, different people, different communities.” She makes a good point, and I think the digital identity community is on top of that nuance. (Though Tantek Çelik Twittered me to ask about their plans, if any, for using microformats as an open portability standard, sadly I didn’t get the nod from the microphone handler.)
On the attention front, in response to the question “Where’s the money going to come from?” the panelists answered with nearly a single voice: targeted advertising. But transactions based on user desires and intentions are on the radar as well:
Travis Katz: the advertising model on social networks is going to be here a long time. Other models will probably emerge too. MySpace is looking at ecommerce models. You always feel better buying from a trusted source. When you talk about transactions between individuals, there’s a commerce opportunity there too.
Karl Jacob: Wallop is all transaction, no advertising. We believe there’s a world down the road where you buy the things you need to dress up your profile and the applications you want to use. Akin to the ringtone market.
Gina Bianchini: If I had to choose between the ringtone market and targeted advertising, I’d choose targeted advertising. There’s a huge opportunity to bring what is happening with AdWords into social networks. If you take a monetization model that’s working today and generating significant amounts of money, and apply it to a market that is only going to get bigger and more sophisticated as far as targeted advertising, it gets very interesting.
Finally, on the subject of intellectual property, when asked what was missing from the social networking ecosystem and what he would invest in if given the opportunity, Rich Rosenblatt commented on the need for what I would call a “third estate” of media: outside the copyright and use limitations of the products of the big studios, labels, and publishing houses, and yet a step above one person’s photos, films, etc. made primarily for personal use. A class of media produced and designed for Web distribution. Gina Bianchini challenged the notion that “amateur” media can’t comprise this third estate:
Rich Rosenblatt: We’d like to see more content actually made for the Internet. There are two layers of content. Studio generated (lots of trouble and fighting there), and user generated but not usable (one guy’s photos of himself). We’d like to see content that more than a few people want to see.
Gina Bianchini: I would argue that that’s happening today. On YouTube some of that gets lost in the crowd, but put it in a community of really interested people, and it’s very powerful.
Rich Rosenblatt, to Gina: But if you could buy wakeboarding content for your wakeboarding social network, wouldn’t that be great?
Gina Bianchini: From my perspective, one of the benefits of social networks is you and your friends can watch your own stuff. Another benefit is the good stuff rises to the top. I would rather have the material be truly user generated.
Karl Wallop: the good content and the good applications will all come from the current and up and coming generations of users.
Source:http://blogs.zdnet.com
Social networking sites enjoy massive visitor surge
Online measurement firm comScore has released a report detailing the dramatic rise of social networking sites.
Sites such as Facebook and MySpace are increasingly taking internet advertising share from Yahoo and other market leaders, and the new study shows that these established giants may truly have something to fear.
MySpace received 114 million unique visitors in June 2007, an increase of 72 per cent compared to the 66 million who visited during June last year.
Facebook performed even better, attracting 52 million unique visitors, which was a 270 per cent increase on the 14 million who logged in during June 2006.
Other sites performing well included Hi5, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo and Tagged. The latter logged a whopping 774 per cent increase in visitors, while Bebo's numbers grew by 172 per cent.
"During the past year, social networking has really taken off globally," said comScore's Bob Ivins.
"Literally hundreds of millions of people around the world are visiting social networking sites each month and many are doing so on a daily basis. It would appear that social networking is not a fad but rather an activity that is being woven into the very fabric of the global internet."
Source:www.directtrafficmedia.co.uk
Sites such as Facebook and MySpace are increasingly taking internet advertising share from Yahoo and other market leaders, and the new study shows that these established giants may truly have something to fear.
MySpace received 114 million unique visitors in June 2007, an increase of 72 per cent compared to the 66 million who visited during June last year.
Facebook performed even better, attracting 52 million unique visitors, which was a 270 per cent increase on the 14 million who logged in during June 2006.
Other sites performing well included Hi5, Friendster, Orkut, Bebo and Tagged. The latter logged a whopping 774 per cent increase in visitors, while Bebo's numbers grew by 172 per cent.
"During the past year, social networking has really taken off globally," said comScore's Bob Ivins.
"Literally hundreds of millions of people around the world are visiting social networking sites each month and many are doing so on a daily basis. It would appear that social networking is not a fad but rather an activity that is being woven into the very fabric of the global internet."
Source:www.directtrafficmedia.co.uk
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Facebook continues its rise, but not in Asia
A regional breakdown of social networking sites shows how hard the major players will have to work to catch 'copycat' sites in China
Facebook has continued its inexorable rise as the social networking site of the moment, but questions remain about its ability to tap the Asian market, where other sites are significantly more popular.
Facebook's audience grew by more than 270 per cent to 52.2 million users in the 12 months to June – far outpacing the increase at Bebo (a rise of 172 per cent to 18.2 million) and MySpace, which grew by 72 per cent to 114.1 million.
But a breakdown of the sites' users by region shows that just 7.1 per cent of Facebook's audience, or 3.7 million people, is in the Asia Pacific, whereas Friendster has 21.9 million members in the region, according to comScore.
More than two thirds of Facebook's audience is in the US and Canada, with 17 per cent in Europe. MySpace has 62 per cent of its users in North America and 25 per cent in Europe.
By comparison Friendster, a site which, like Facebook, is based on finding old friends and building a network of people, now has 24.7 million unique users, 89 per cent of which are in the Asia Pacific.
A spokesman for comScore said Friendster's strong performance in the region was largely due to its popularity in Malaysia, where the site has set up tie-ins with local pop singers.
"Paying attention to the subtleties of each country is absolutely critical for these sites," Bob Ivins, vice president of international markets at comScore, said. "It's a problem any multi-national company faces. Just because you've got a strong brand in one country doesn't mean you'll succeed in others."
Rebecca Jennings, an analyst at Forrester, said that there were significant difference in the way countries adapted to social networking, and the success of sites often depended on how well they catered to local needs.
"Obviously in China and Japan, part of the problem is language and question for Facebook is: do you launch a local language site?" she said.
"Germany has not taken particularly well to social networking, because people there are less willing to sign up for those types of services. In Brazil, however, where the culture is much more about how many friends you have, they're huge, and Orkut, a site which tailors to those needs, is doing very well there."
An additional problem for companies considering the Chinese market was the propensity for authorities to control the use of the internet, which has led many to focus their energies elsewhere, she said.
MySpace has launched a 'beta site' in China – owned and operated by a Chinese company – and the company has also introduced a site in Japan, as has YouTube.
Facebook is yet to launch an Asian-language site.
Earlier this month, Tudou.com, a site similar to YouTube on which 40 million Chinese users watch an estimated 1.2 billion videos a month, announced it had secured $19 million (£9.4) in venture capital funding and would start selling ads.
Other sites to have entered the video-sharing space in China include www.mofile.com, www.5show.com, and www.56.com.
Last year, one of the largest college-based networking sites in China, www.xiaonei.com, was acquired by Oak Pacific, a Chinese company backed by US venture capital firms. According to Venturebeat.com, the site will merge with Oak Pacific's own networking site, 5Q, to form "a giant Facebook copycat."
Source:http://technology.timesonline.co.uk
Facebook has continued its inexorable rise as the social networking site of the moment, but questions remain about its ability to tap the Asian market, where other sites are significantly more popular.
Facebook's audience grew by more than 270 per cent to 52.2 million users in the 12 months to June – far outpacing the increase at Bebo (a rise of 172 per cent to 18.2 million) and MySpace, which grew by 72 per cent to 114.1 million.
But a breakdown of the sites' users by region shows that just 7.1 per cent of Facebook's audience, or 3.7 million people, is in the Asia Pacific, whereas Friendster has 21.9 million members in the region, according to comScore.
More than two thirds of Facebook's audience is in the US and Canada, with 17 per cent in Europe. MySpace has 62 per cent of its users in North America and 25 per cent in Europe.
By comparison Friendster, a site which, like Facebook, is based on finding old friends and building a network of people, now has 24.7 million unique users, 89 per cent of which are in the Asia Pacific.
A spokesman for comScore said Friendster's strong performance in the region was largely due to its popularity in Malaysia, where the site has set up tie-ins with local pop singers.
"Paying attention to the subtleties of each country is absolutely critical for these sites," Bob Ivins, vice president of international markets at comScore, said. "It's a problem any multi-national company faces. Just because you've got a strong brand in one country doesn't mean you'll succeed in others."
Rebecca Jennings, an analyst at Forrester, said that there were significant difference in the way countries adapted to social networking, and the success of sites often depended on how well they catered to local needs.
"Obviously in China and Japan, part of the problem is language and question for Facebook is: do you launch a local language site?" she said.
"Germany has not taken particularly well to social networking, because people there are less willing to sign up for those types of services. In Brazil, however, where the culture is much more about how many friends you have, they're huge, and Orkut, a site which tailors to those needs, is doing very well there."
An additional problem for companies considering the Chinese market was the propensity for authorities to control the use of the internet, which has led many to focus their energies elsewhere, she said.
MySpace has launched a 'beta site' in China – owned and operated by a Chinese company – and the company has also introduced a site in Japan, as has YouTube.
Facebook is yet to launch an Asian-language site.
Earlier this month, Tudou.com, a site similar to YouTube on which 40 million Chinese users watch an estimated 1.2 billion videos a month, announced it had secured $19 million (£9.4) in venture capital funding and would start selling ads.
Other sites to have entered the video-sharing space in China include www.mofile.com, www.5show.com, and www.56.com.
Last year, one of the largest college-based networking sites in China, www.xiaonei.com, was acquired by Oak Pacific, a Chinese company backed by US venture capital firms. According to Venturebeat.com, the site will merge with Oak Pacific's own networking site, 5Q, to form "a giant Facebook copycat."
Source:http://technology.timesonline.co.uk
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