Apps Downloads Hit Record High in Last Week of December
For the first time in a single week, more than a billion apps have been downloaded, according to a study. Analytics firm Flurry said 1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the last week of December.
Activity was buoyed by the facts that many users received new devices for Christmas and firms offered discounted apps over the holiday period. The US was responsible for nearly half of the downloads, followed by China and the UK.
With 81 million downloads, the UK easily surpassed Canada (41 million), Germany (40 million) and France (40 million). It was beaten to second spot by China with 99 million downloads. The US was out ahead with 509 million.
Flurry thinks this level of download activity will become more standard. “Looking forward to 2012, Flurry expects breaking the one billion download barrier per week will become more commonplace,” the firm said in its blog… “While [Apple] iOS and [Google] Android growth continues to amaze, the market is still by all measures relatively nascent.”
Unsurprisingly, Christmas proved a boom time for device makers. Flurry estimated that nearly seven million Android devices and iPhones were activated on Christmas Day. Apple does not disclose such figures but Google confirmed that more than 3.7 million Android devices were activated over the Christmas weekend.
Source: BBC News
Posted in: Social Media, Web Apps
Is This the Future of Publishing?
I saw this great video earlier this week – not only is the message powerful, but it’s really cleverly done. Hope you like it too!
Posted in: Social Media
How To Grow a Facebook and Twitter Fanbase Using Green Pie Vans
One of the most common conversations we have with clients is about how to grow an online community around their brand – particularly how to increase the number of people that ‘Like’ their Facebook page and ‘Follow’ them on Twitter.
There are lots of elements to successfully achieving growth, particularly around creating engaging content and frequency/quality of interaction, that could (and will no doubt) make up a dozen future blog posts…but, there are also the simple, common sense things that every business should be doing to build awareness amongst existing and potential customers of the opportunity to connect with their brand online.
We refer to it as making the most of your customer ‘touch points’ – wherever you interact with your customer either in person or online, let them know where and how they can connect with you.
So, promote your Facebook page and Twitter profile online and offline, internally and externally – embed Facebook and Twitter boxes on your website, add ‘Like us on Facebook’ call to actions on email signatures, business cards, stationery, packaging, external marketing collateral e.g. posters, press ads, TV commercials (seeing so many more of those coming through), on in-store point of sale and even vehicles.
Talking of which, one of our clients, Holland’s Pies have this week added Facebook and Twitter logos (along with their profile names Holland’s Pies Official and @HollandsPies) to their iconic fleet of green pie vans.
It’s a simple and relatively inexpensive thing to do, but makes really smart marketing sense since Holland’s 30+ pie vans are cris-crossing the North West (their core customer territory) on a daily basis and receive thousands of customer ‘eyeballs’ (OTS to you marketing types) that can potentially be converted into online fans of the brand.
When advising them to do this, one thing we stressed was the importance of adhering to both Facebook and Twitter’s brand usage rules. Luckily, both sites have very good, easy to follow guidelines and areas where you can download official logo’s that can be used both online and offline. You’ll find Facebook’s guidelines here and Twitter’s here.
What other ‘touch points’ are you using to promote and grow online communities?
Posted in: Facebook, Social Media, Twitter
Facebook Like Button Takes Over Share Button Functionality
Say goodbye to the Share button because the Like button is taking over.
After months of updates to its Like button, Facebook has released an update that fundamentally changes the button’s functionality to that of a Share button. Now after hitting the Like button, a full story with a headline, blurb and thumbnail will be posted to your profile wall. You’ll also be given an option to comment on the story link. Previously, only a link to the story would appear in the recent activity, often going unnoticed by users.
Though users may now think twice about hitting the button, given how prominently it will appear on their walls and in their networks’ newsfeeds, it should ultimately increase traffic to publishers’ websites.
Facebook has slowly been rolling out updates to its Like button and has stopped developing the Share Button. Facebook spokeswoman Malorie Lucich told us that while the company will continue to support the Share button, Like is the “recommended solution moving forward.” However, Lucich today called it a test, saying “We’re always testing new products that incorporate developer feedback as we work to improve the Platform experience, and have no details to share at this time.” It’s unlikely that the change is just a test, however. Typically such tests from Facebook only affect a small number of users, whereas this change affects all Like buttons.
Perhaps the change was necessary. Because it was never made clear to users that the Like button would function differently than the Share button, many never understood what it meant to click Like on a piece of content. Making the result the same as the Share button could build stronger user expectations, ultimately fashioning a better user experience.
Source: Mashable
Posted in: Facebook, Social Media
SMEs Look to Facebook and LinkedIn for Lead Generation
According to eMarketer, Social media is becoming more popular among US small-business owners and many will be spending more on advertising, marketing and new business development in 2011, which will also impact the amount of resources devoted to social media.
More than 55% of small-business owners view Facebook as somewhat or very beneficial to their business, according to data from Ad-ology, which surveyed 752 US small-business owners. Other sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, also received nods from small-business owners, while group-buying sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial were lower on the list.
Additionally, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all saw significant increases in the percentage of small-business owners who view them as beneficial compared to last year. In the prior year’s survey, only 33.2% of respondents called Facebook somewhat or very beneficial, and only 18.5% said the same of Twitter.
Just as several social media sites are useful to small businesses, there are also many objectives companies find social media outreach useful for. Lead generation was the top benefit reported, selected by 57.2% of small-business owners. Ad-ology also found 54% of small-business owners highlighted monitoring what is being said about their businesses. Improving customer experience was another reported benefit of social media.
In a separate survey, Manta, an online community for promoting and connecting small businesses, found that 42% of small-business owners consider social media useful in connecting with consumers. Twenty-three percent of those same small-business owners also reported that they plan to make advertising and marketing their No. 1 priority expenditure for 2011, while 24% plan to prioritize new business development.
As social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn prove themselves beneficial to small businesses within several areas of their companies, small-business owners will keep social media in mind as they plan to increase spending in 2011.
Source: eMarketer
Posted in: Social Media, Social Media Statistics
Tech Review of 2010 by Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore
Interesting video interview from Bloomberg featuring Mashable’s CEO Pete Cashmore and his review of the ‘Top Tech’ of 2010 – a very good year for Facebook and Apple according to Cashmore.
Posted in: Social Media, Social Networks, Web/Tech, YouTube
Facebook Connections Map the World
Facebook intern Paul Butler has been poring through some of the data held by the social networking firm on its 500m members.
The map above is the result of his attempts to visualise where people live relative to their Facebook friends. Each line connects cities with pairs of friends. The brighter the line, the more friends between those cities.
After tweaking the graphic and data set it produced a “surprisingly detailed map of the world,” he said in a blog post.
“Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well,” he wrote.
“What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn’t represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships.”
However, large chunks of the world are missing, such as China and central Africa, where Facebook has little presence.
Source: BBC News
Posted in: Facebook, Social Media, Social Networks
Local Deals Come to Facebook Places
The rumors are apparently true — at an event today at Facebook headquarters, the social networking site revealed that it will, in fact, be launching a deals service for Facebook Places. Watch out, Foursquare.
Deals is a new application within Facebook’s iPhone app (which just got a refresh) that lets you find deals at nearby businesses.
There are four types of deals: Individual Deals (for discounts, free stuff or other rewards), Friend Deals (where you and a pal claim something together), Loyalty Deals (for the regulars) and Charity Deals (which allow you to donate to a cause).
The service is only available in the refreshed iPhone app, but Android users can access deals via touch.facebook.com (as they did when they wanted to use Places before the Android refresh).
So how does it work? Users can find deals by looking for the yellow icon when go to check in using Places (see below). Simply click on the deal to claim it, and then show it to the cashier to cash in. Deals claimed will be shared on your News Feed, which will allow your friends to reap the same benefits if they so choose.
Right now, Deals will be rolling out in the U.S. over the next few days, but Facebook says it will be expanding over time.
Currently, a ton of businesses are offering deals, including Chipotle, GAP and 24 Hour Fitness. You can check out more details on the Facebook blog. Facebook has also posted a video to show other merchants how they can start using the Deals platform.
This announcement is sure to be a big game-changer when it comes to the future of geo-location services.
Source: Mashable
Posted in: Facebook, Social Media, Social Networks
Amidst the Cuts, UK Spend on Social Media Soars
Like the rest of the country, I’ve been watching today’s ‘Spending Review’ announcement with great interest and although the general view seems to be that the cuts weren’t quite as bad as expected, £81bn has been axed from public spending over the next four years.
It’s with relief that I read some good news for a change…online ad spend in the UK has increased by 10% year on year. IAB UK has recently published the new online ad spend figures and they show that nearly one quarter of the total UK advertising market is now spent online.
Other highlights from the IAB report are:
- UK online ad spend for the first half of 2010 measured £1,968.6 million.
- Online ad spend hit another new record, earning digital a market share of 24.3%.
- Over same period, total UK ad spend (across all media) rose 6.3% to £8.1 billion.
- Advertising on social media sites account for an estimated 13% of all online display advertising.
- How much of this was social media spend? Well Social Media Influence calculate that it amounts to £43.4 million, taking 13% of display ad total (£334.6 million in H1 2010).
And Amy Kean, one of the Authors of the report believes the social media contriubtion may be understated as she comments on the IAB blog.
Posted in: Communications, Social Media
Gap Reverts to Original Logo After Social Media Backlash
Gap has announced on its Facebook Page that it is scrapping its new logo design efforts, acquiescing to a torrent of criticism coming primarily from Facebook and Twitter users.
Last week, Gap unveiled a new logo, one it called “a more contemporary, modern expression.” The retailer’s customers were not so thrilled about the change, and Gap decided to ask users for their logo design ideas instead. However, that course of action has now been reversed, as well.
“Ok. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback,” the company said on its Facebook page. “We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers. So instead of crowdsourcing, we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.”
According to Gap, the original logo will make its return “across all channels.”
The backlash against the Gap’s new (and now defunct) logo was intense. Beyond the thousands of tweets and Facebook status updates deriding its design, people found other creative ways to protest the new logo. A fake Twitter account has gathered thousands of followers, while Gap logo generators have quickly gone viral.
While social media wasn’t the only reason that Gap felt compelled to revert to the old logo, it definitely was a major factor. Social media mobilized and spread the word about the logo change. In this case, the company listened to its customers and avoided a consumer backlash of Tropicana proportions.
Source: AdAge
Posted in: Social Media
