Rileybiz

Facebook, the social network, was the most popular online search term among US consumers during the first eleven months of this year, figures from Experian Hitwise show.

According to the research firm’s estimates, 1.09% of all enquiries made by web users in the period from January to November were related to the Palo Alto-based portal itself, or a specific area of its site.

MySpace, which took the top spot for 2008 as a whole, fell to second, on 1.02%, with Yahoo’s various properties on 0.95%, Google’s portfolio of services on 0.63%, and Craigslist on 0.62%.

Looking more broadly, Experian Hitwise found that 2.48% of all such entries made via search engines like Bing were in some way linked to social networks.

In terms of visitor numbers, however, Google retained its pre-eminence, taking a 6.70% share during the timeframe under assessment.

Yahoo Mail was in second place on this measure, on 4.44%, followed by Facebook, on 4.26%, Yahoo’s homepage, on 3.36%, and MySpace, on 3.0%.

From World Advertising Research Center

Kodak, the photography and printing specialist, currently has 47,000 “friends” on Facebook, while 13,000 netizens are tracking its posts on Twitter.

It has built an application on the former of these two websites, enabling members to produce their own photo albums, as well as send messages and images to each other.

From World Advertising Research Center

JCPenney, the mid-market apparel chain, has over 620,000 “fans” on Facebook and 3,200 “followers” on Twitter, and has heightened its visibility on both of these platforms in recent times.

Among the options available for visitors to its brand page on Facebook are making recommendations to their contacts, as well as sharing their stories about buying gifts.

Nick Bomersbach, director of JCP.com, said “our customers are spending a lot of time connecting with each other in these online communities, and we want to be there.”

“Oftentimes they’re talking about brands and JCPenney, and we want to have an open avenue to have that dialogue.”

From World Advertising Research Center

According to Dell, its various internet-based activities – covering everything from Web 2.0 portals to its own online communities like Direct2Dell and IdeaStorm – reach an audience of 3.5 million people worldwide.

The Texas-bases firm also reported earlier this month that it has generated revenues of $6.5 million across its portfolio of computers, software and accessories via its presence on Twitter.

It established a corporate profile on the microblogging utility in 2007, and now has more than 100 members of staff contributing to 35 accounts.

More broadly, for the three months to December, the number of “fans” of the computer manufacturer on Twitter has increased by 23%, to 1.5 million overall.

From World Advertising Research Center

By John Riley

 By now, the term social media (web 2.0) is well known, but arguably not well understood. Recently, I have had the opportunity to spend some time with several very talented gerus in the field who see social media as an engagement with online communities to share information that builds exposure and sales. Testimony to that definition is the large number of major corporations that have steadily re-jiggered larger shares of their business development budgets into this medium.

 Each instrument that plays a part in this concert has its own unique set of characteristics: Twitter, Facebook, podcast, blogs, Linked In and YouTube are the best known. According to a March 2009 survey sponsored by Social Media Examiner, Twitter is used by 94% of marketers who have been using social media for years, followed closely by blogs.

 Unsurprisingly, age is a factor in adopting and executing a social media campaign. The Social Media Marketing survey revealed that people 60 years of age and above were significantly more likely to be just getting started with social media than other age groups. The people aged 30 to 39 years were the most likely to use it.

 Shaping The Strategy

 When you read, The Social Media Bible,(2009)” a nearly two-inch thick book by Lon Safko and David Brake, you gain an insight into the growing influence of social media. The book’s précis says, “it will show you how to build or transform your business into a social media-enabled enterprise where customers, employees, and prospects connect, collaborate, and champion your products, your services, and your way of doing business.”

 The authors advocate a four pillar strategy as a basis for a successful transformation:

               Communication—many of the tools can measure effectiveness

               Collaboration—use the right mix of tools

               Education—turn expertise into content            

               Entertainment—make the content interesting and compelling

 By the time you are turning the final pages of the book, you will be familiar with social media vocabulary, have a tactical perspective on various tools and their capabilities and have an insight into creating a successful strategy for your business. The book lives up to its billing.

 Savoring The Payoff

 In the Social Media Marketing survey of 800 marketing professionals, 81% said their business gained increased exposure and 61% realized a pick up in web traffic.  Most importantly, 56% said their efforts had resulted in new business partnerships while 48% enjoyed a boost in sales leads. It was also significant that 45% of participants saw a reduction in their marketing expenses.

 As you engage with people, you are building content for your blog and connecting with many different influences you would not otherwise be able to reach. Additionally, companies are able to monitor what is being said about their products, services or company by enabling them to better shape their marketing and sales strategies. Finally, if your social media program really clicks, you create a volunteer sales force that sells your product and accelerates your ROI growth.

Plenty of opportunities remain to capitalize on the benefits of social media. Shaping a thoughtful strategy and using the right tools will reach employees, customers and prospects in a way that encourages and provokes dialogue. Therein lies your opportunity.

Social media practitioners can usually be found frequently visiting social media websites. Visiting these sites are an excellent way to learn more about the subject.

 According to eBizMBA, the five most popular are:

1.  Twitter.com which enjoys some 23.5 million visitors a month.
2.  Digg.com which has 33.4 million visitors a month.
3.  Yahoo!Buzz.com receives 8.1 visitors per month
4.  Tweetmeme.com gets 18.2 million each month
5.  StumbleUpon.com has 4.4 million visitors a month

From PhysOrg,com

Intel believes its customers would be willing to have a chip implanted in their brains so they could operate computers without the need for a keyboard or mouse using thoughts alone. The implant could also be used to operate devices such as cell phones, TVs and DVDs.

The chip is being developed at Intel’s laboratory in Pittsburgh, USA. It would sense brain activity using technology based on FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The brain sensing chips are not yet available, but Intel research scientist Dean Pomerleau thinks they are close.

Pomerleau said that with human beings and machines converging in many ways, people will want to give up the need for an interface such as a keyboard, mouse or remote control and operate the devices using their brain waves. Pomerleau believes that some time within the next decade or so people will be “more committed” to the idea of the brain implants.

Pomerleau said a headset incorporating brain sensing technology to operate a computer is close, and the next step is to develop the tiny brain implant, which would be much less cumbersome for the user.

While it seems unlikely many people would volunteer for the Intel chip implant at present, it could have applications for people who are unable to move, such as quadriplegics.

For complete story go to physOrg.com.

From PhysOrg.com

Despite technological advances aimed at making the Internet easy to use, the World Wide Web is not wide open for many people.

But as the number of people with disabilities grows and more of everything is done online, companies are finding it makes good business sense to make their sites more accessible and are hiring consultants and training programmers to make it happen.

“Web sites are nowadays the virtual front door of a business. If you can’t get in, you can’t get your business done and they just lost a customer,” said Dmitri Belser, the executive director of the Center for Accessible Technology in Berkeley, which has worked with Intel Corp., Gap Inc. and others.

There are more than 50 million people in the U.S. with disabilities, including blindness, hearing-impairments, mobility difficulties and cognitive and neurological problems.

The World Wide Web Consortium, which develops standards for the Web, has issued guidelines for designers to help them create more accessible sites. They include providing text labels for images, captions on audio and video and making keyboard shortcuts for people who can’t use a mouse.

While most federal government Web sites are required by law to be accessible, companies have no legal obligation to incorporate the features.

For the entire story, go to physOrg.com

Marketers in the US are planning to place a heightened emphasis on measuring the results of their activity on social media next year, figures from a new survey show.

The Chief Marketing Officer Club and Bazaarvoice surveyed 133 chief marketing officers, and found that 64% of participants intend to increase their investment in social media in 2010.

Some 81% of contributors expect to direct up to 10% of their budgets to this channel, up from a comparative total of 44% in 2008.

Of those specialists who are not currently attempting to track the impact of this area of their operations on sales, 72% will implement policies enabling them to do so in the next 12 months.

The metrics attracting the most attention at present include driving site traffic, mentioned by 90% of the panel, page views, on 85%, and the number of “fans” on sites like Facebook, on 83%.

Priorities moving forward will be establishing the contribution of this type of Web 2.0 portal on revenues, up by over 300%, conversion rates, up 174%, and average order value, up 150%.

Overall, 53% of the sample were unsure about the ROI offered by Twitter, with 50% agreeing with this statement for LinkedIn and content like industry blogs.

In contrast, online customer reviews and ratings were regarded as being the best way to determine the payback from digital communications programmes.

Moreover, 80% of chief marketing officers are now using consumer insights generated on the web to help “shape decision-making at the executive level”.

Similarly, 90% employ “customer stories and product suggestions” in helping identify which goods they should attempt to develop.

By the end of next year, 59% more respondents will utilise reviews from members of the public in the innovation process, with information found on Twitter recording a 407% uptick on this measure.

Sam Decker, chief marketing officer of Bazaarvoice, argued “while 2009 may have been a trial run for many brands and social media, in 2010, CMOs expect social initiatives to directly impact their bottom lines, without exception.”

Earlier this year, a poll by the World Federation of Advertisers discovered that some of the biggest companies in Europe are interested in similar issues as their American counterparts where social media is concerned.

Data sourced from The CMO Club; additional content by Warc staff, 16 December 2009. Printed with permission of World Advertising Research Center.