Posts Tagged ‘Social network service’
Cybercriminals are turning their attention to users of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, according to a new report [pdf] from IT security and data protection firm Sophos.
Spam, Malware Attacks on the Rise
Sophos’ Security Threat Report: 2010 indicates criminals have increasingly focused attacks on social networking users in the past 12 months, with a dramatic rise in the use of spam and malware. Fifty-seven percent of social networking users reported being spammed in December 2009, a 70.6% jump from 33.4% reporting spam attacks in April 2009. Similarly, 36% reported social network-based malware attacks in December 2009, a 69.8% rise from 21.2% in April 2009.
Facebook is Most Feared
When asked what social network poses the biggest security risk, 60% of respondents said Facebook. Another 18% said MySpace, 17% said Twitter, and 4% said LinkedIn. Facebook is the largest social networking site, with an estimated 350 million users.
Despite Facebook’s perceived high risk, 49% of US firms allow employees unfettered access to Facebook at work. In addition, despite the low percentage of respondents saying LinkedIn poses the biggest security risk, Sophos advised that by publicly posting information on corporate structure, companies using LinkedIn can make it easier for criminals to launch targeted attacks on a corporate directory.
Enterprises Unprepared for SocNet Threat
Unchecked social network use poses a threat to enterprise organizations, according to research by Cisco. A recent Cisco global study indicates only one in seven of the companies that participated in the research notes a formal process associated with adopting consumer-based social networking tools for business purposes. In addition, one in five participants identified any policies in place concerning the use of consumer-based social networking technologies in the enterprise, and only one in ten respondents noted direct IT involvement in externally facing social networking initiatives.
Facebook Social Network Site
Here’s a story as featured on ninemsn.com.au today and I thought you would find it interesting:
Notions of privacy have radically shifted due to the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, according to its founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The 25 year-old Facebook CEO, who was speaking at an awards ceremony in San Francisco, said that privacy was “no longer a social norm” and that “people have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people”.
According to a report in the Guardian newspaper, Zuckerberg’s comments are “not surprising” considering massive changes in Facebook’s privacy settings that affected many of the site’s 350 million users.
Zuckerberg said that when he started the site in 2004 for fellow Ivy League students, notions of privacy were vastly different.
He said people were less likely to want to share personal information with strangers on the web, but in the last “five or six” years the explosion of personal websites and blogs had redefined our privacy boundaries.
But the question remains whether notions of privacy have changed due to Facebook pushing users to be more open, with initiatives such as the introduction of the ‘news feed’ in 2006 — or whether the rise of other tools such as blogging has led to internet users becoming more relaxed with sharing information.
Marshall Kirkpatrick, of the technology industry blog ReadWriteWeb was quoted in the Guardian as saying that Facebook has been “complicit in ….changing the way people think about online privacy.”
Technology expert Om Malik had previously described changes in Facebook’s privacy settings as creating an equivalent of a “quasi-White Pages of the Web.”
Trends in Retailing for 2010
Companies seeking to reach out to consumers this year need to prove they are good corporate citizens and also need to tailor their products, services and messaging to an audience that is constantly online, according to consumer insights firm trendwatching.com.
Trendwatching.com’s top 10 consumer trends for 2010:
1. Business as unusual: Companies must move “with the culture,” meaning they need to be transparent and honest about their efforts to conduct environmentally sustainable business practices and genuinely collaborate with their customers rather than try to dictate to them. Trendwatching.com cites Google, Amazon, Zappos and Virgin as four companies that are successfully conducting “business as unusual.”
2. Urbany: As of 2008, more than half of the world’s population resides in cities. This means increasingly sophisticated consumers want daring goods, services, experiences, campaigns and conversations.
3. Real-time Reviews: Consumers are constantly online with immediate access to reviews of products and services by fellow consumers. Companies must either offer products and services which are so good they are beyond criticism or involve customers in product design from day one to minimize the chance of a bad reaction.
4. (F)luxury: Consumers want luxury, but there is no longer a clear definition of “luxury.” To create a sense of luxury, companies should produce products and services that are scarce or radically different from what is on the marketplace.
5. Mass Mingling: Consumers who interact online through social networks increasingly are taking those virtual relationships into the “real world.” Companies should help facilitate real-world meetups from social networks in a way that promotes their brand.
6. Eco-Easy: Time-strapped consumers want to be ecologically conscious but don’t want to expend time or effort in doing so, creating a market for products and services that make it easy to be “green.”
7. Tracking & Alerting: Using online technology, consumers want to instantly track and be alerted of events and information they find interesting or important.
8. Embedded Generosity: Consumers will continue to respond well to products and services which have a charitable component, such as apparel items which have a portion of their profits donated to a worthy cause.
9. Profile Myning: Consumers are increasingly protective of their online privacy and are receptive to products and services which offer security for online social networking activities.
10. Maturalism: Short for “mature materialism,” this trend revolves around consumers’ increasing receptiveness to products, services and advertising campaigns which are edgy, controversial and push social boundaries.
A recent study on the social networking habits of US women by social media platform SheSpeaks supports trendwatcher’s predictions for the domination of the consumer marketplace by online social networks. The study found that 86% of US women now have a profile on at least one social networking site, with 50% of female social media users saying they have purchased products because of information on social networking sites, and 40% reporting they have used coupon codes found on social networks.
Generation-Y women discover new brands and get most of their style inspiration and product recommendations from blogs and social media, according to a recent research report from PopSugar Media and Radar Research.
The “Why Y Women” report (pdf), which examined both the sphere of influence and generational differences between Gen X and Y women also revealed that two-thirds (67%) of Generation X women say that Generation Y women make up the most influential age group when it comes to defining trends in popular culture.
Y Women ‘Major’ Force
According to PopSugar Media, study results suggest that Generation Y women are a major force in determining cultural trends and setting the pace for style. An overwhelming 92% of Gen Y women consider their generation to be the trend leader.
Gen Y women are also influential brand advocates, the research found. When they discover a brand they love, 61% say they “share it with as many friends as possible,” and they are likely to share it across a spectrum of platforms, including email, social networks, online reviews, blog comments, SMS/MMS, phone, and face-to-face. They are twice as likely to use online social networking sites to share their recommendations than Gen X women (28% vs. 15%).Survey results also suggest that Gen Y women are more brand loyal than many may assume. The research found that Gen Y and Gen X on virtually on par in this area (79% vs. 84%), though the level of brand loyalty varies by category.
Gen Y women trust on line reviews and blogs
Peer Group Redefined
How Gen-Y women define their peer group also is a significant change from previous generations. The study found that it not only includes their “real-life’ friends but also online friends, blog writers, anonymous reviewers, Twitter followers, and other participants in online communities – many whom they may have never met. As a result, this generation has a wider network of connections than Gen X women.
Blogs and Social Media as Cultural Influencers
Blogs and social media, rather than traditional media, have emerged as key trusted and inspirational sources for Gen Y to discover brands and products, the research found. Nearly twice as many Gen-Y women than Gen-X women say they rely on blogs to influence their decisions to buy a product (28% vs. 16%). Twice as many Gen Y women than Gen X women report they discovered a new brand or product from a friend’s status update on a social networking site (42% vs. 22%).
Consumption of new media, such as blogs, reinforce Gen Y women’s perception of themselves as more individualistic than earlier generations. This generation of women cites blogs as being more accessible, more likely to be honest, on the cutting edge, and more likely to know about trends first. They also believe the “commentor community” on blogs is very important. Gen-Y women say they often find new ideas about websites and products from other readers’ comments on blogs.
Context is Vital
Not surprisingly, Gen-Y women are very media savvy and conscious of attempts to market to them and are not easily swayed to action by advertising, either offline or online. While they aren’t likely to click on an online ad, they are influenced by advertising messages and are highly aware of brand messages online, such as in online magazines, search engines, blogs, social networking sites, and even ads. When asked if they’ve ever discovered a new product via an online ad they saw but didn’t click on, almost two in five (38%) reported they did.
The study’s findings, according to PopSugar, demonstrate that context is vital when it comes to brand perception and advertising and largely determines trust in a brand.
“The results of this study underscore how much marketers must think and act differently when addressing this generation of women online. It shows they want to be addressed as individuals, they can be skeptical of marketing messages, and they are inundated by media and advertising,” said Brian Sugar, founder and CEO of Sugar, Inc. “As this study and our experience proves, it’s crucial for brands to create a trusted relationship and earn their loyalty through honest dialogue about their brand. Once they have a personal connection to a brand, Gen Y women will be passionate advocates and ambassadors. Our goal has been to work closely with brands to help facilitate that relationship.”
Sugar added that context matters a great deal to Gen Y women, and recommended that marketers be very selective about the sites they advertise on and avoid mass-reach network buys they cannot control.
Moreover, because Gen-Y women rarely click on online adds, using click-through as a metric of campaign success is not effective. Instead, Sugar suggests using multiple digital touch points that are interactive but non-intrusive, to offer opportunities to engage with brands. These might be contests, games, custom integrated content, and discounts and incentives for attention.
A majority of US women use social networking sites, and half of them say social networking sites influence their shopping habits, according to a recent study on online social networking among women from social media platform SheSpeaks.
According to the SheSpeaks Second Annual Media Study (pdf), 86% of US women now have a profile on at least one social networking site, a 48% increase from 58% who had a profile in 2008. Since 2008, the percentage of women reporting they log into their social networking sites at least once a day grew 36%, from 53% to 72%.
Women heavy users of social media networks
Of particular interest to retailers, 50% of female social media users say they have purchased products because of information on social networking sites, and 40% report they have used coupon codes found on social network.
Facebook Most Popular
Facebook is the most popular social networking site among women. Some 95% of respondents who have a social networking profile say they use Facebook, a 46% increase from 65% last year. MySpace dropped 33% in popularity, with 42% of female social networking participants reporting they have a MySpace account, compared with 63% in 2008.
Twitter, which was included in the study for the first time this year, has a 38% participation rate, SheSpeaks said.
“Although Facebook is currently more popular than Twitter among women, they each share a purpose in women’s lives,” said Aliza Freud, founder and CEO of SheSpeaks. “Facebook serves women’s need to interact with friends and share photos, while Twitter has become a tool that is primarily used for professional networking and learning about up-to-the-minute news, promotions and deals.”
Hearing what friends are doing, having fun and expressing themselves top the list of reasons why women say they use Facebook and Twitter, though more women visit Facebook to express themselves and have fun. However, a higher percentage useTwitter to learn new things, promote themselves/their work and follow celebrities.
Reasons for using social network sites
Online Video Grows in Popularity
The study also found online video has grown in popularity over the last year. Almost 40% of the women in the study report that they frequently watch video and TV content online, and 85% say they watch it frequently or sometimes.
A separate poll of SheSpeaks members found that clips from news and TV programming were the most commonly watched type of online video in the prior week (68%), followed by videos that are forwarded (49%), full news and TV programs (40%), and videos posted by friends (40%). Entertaining advertisements were the least popular type of video, but were still watched by one-third of women within the last week.
The study paints a more optimistic picture of social networking’s growth in popularity among US adults than other studies released earlier this year, reports Retailer Daily. According to the most recent Consumer Internet Barometer report from The Conference Board, released in June 2009, growth is occurring but not as rapidly as indicated by SheSpeaks study. The Consumer Internet Barometer indicates 43% of internet users participate in social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. This is a 16-percentage-point jump from the 27% of users participating in social networking sites a year ago.
Online social networking participation has especially grown among users ages 55 and up, the study found. Last year, only 6% of internet users in this age group participated in online social networking, compared with 19% this year.
About the study: The Second Annual Media Study is based on responses 1,500 adult women who are members of the SheSpeaks social networking community gave to an annual survey.
The fastest-growing US companies have adopted social media marketing in droves, and seem pleased with the results.
The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has followed up on its 2007 and 2008 studies of social media usage by the Inc. 500. Adoption and awareness continue to trend upward, with 91% of firms using at least one social media tool in 2009 and three-quarters describing themselves as “very familiar” with social networking.
Social networking and blogging have seen the most growth in adoption, while other technologies have flattened or even declined in use, including wikis and online video. Twitter usage, of course, has caught on quickly—more than one-half of businesses reported tweeting in 2009. This was the first year respondents were polled about Twitter.
Social Media Still Growing
One impressive change over time was in the percentage of Inc. 500 companies that did not use any form of social media. It dropped precipitously from 43% in 2007 to just 9% in 2009.
The Center for Marketing Research also noted that the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the US, is outpacing the larger, more traditional companies in the Fortune 500 in many social media activities.
Is the rush to adoption bringing marketing success? Respondents overwhelmingly believed it was. The companies polled were mostly measuring hits, comments, leads or sales as primary indicators.
Companies were also monitoring mentions of their brands in the social media space, at 68% this year. That figure was climbing steadily, up from 60% in 2008 and 50% in 2007.
Social influence on Gen Y trendsetters
Generation Y females have redefined the idea of “peer group” to encompass online friends, bloggers and anonymous reviewers, according to the “Why Y Women?” report from PopSugar and Radar Research.
Looking to this expansive group of peers, rather than experts or celebrities, Gen Y women are particularly influenced by social media.
Younger women are nearly twice as likely as their Gen X counterparts to say they had discovered a new brand or product when a friend mentioned it in an online status update. They are also significantly more influenced by blogs, by both professionals and especially by “someone like me.”
- Methods Used to Discover New Brands
Telling friends in person or on the phone is still by far the most common way for Gen Y women to spread the word about products or brands they love. But they post about products and brands on social networking sites or online forums nearly twice as much as older women. Gen X women, on the other hand, are more likely than younger females to share information via e-mail.
- Methods Used To Share Information
Further, with even two-thirds of Gen X women considering their younger counterparts trendsetters, according to the survey, the potential pop culture influence of social marketing is multiplied.
Mr Youth, which has studied “millennial moms”—mothers around the same age as PopSugar’s Gen Y women—has also found the peer group an important influencer.
“With moms it is even a stronger source, as moms have always found it important to ask other moms before making important decisions that affect their families and kids,” Brandon Evans, managing partner and chief strategy officer at Mr Youth, told Media Life magazine. “With social media, it became much easier for them to seek out advice on a variety of topics from a wider net of people, so it quickly gained in influence.”
More than three in 10 (32%) small-business advertisers plan to include social media in their marketing mix in the next 12 months by using a page on a social networking site such as Facebook, Linkedin or MySpace, according to the latest wave of BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor study.
The study also explored other forms of Web 2.0 marketing and found that 39% of SMBs plan to include customer ratings or reviews on their websites, 23% plan to incorporate video on their websites, and 31% plan to include links or ads placed on social sites or blogs.
Small business increase use of social media
Current Use Remains Low
Despite the significant number reporting plans to use social media, far fewer SMBs appear to be putting it into practice today. For example, only 9% of SMBs report using Twitter to market their business in the past 12 months. Similarly, only 23% have used social sites in the past 12 months, only 16% have incorporated video into their website and 29% have included customer ratings and reviews.
Fewer Established SMBs Tweet
The study also revealed that the adoption of social media – including Twitter – by SMBs is more prevalent among younger businesses. While 16% of businesses that are three years old or younger say they use Twitter, only 2% of those in business 11+ years report doing so:
Small business and social media
The same phenomenon is true for plans to use pages on social sites. While 44% of businesses that are three years old or younger say they plan to market this way, only 22% of those in business 11+ years say they will.
Small business usage of social media
BIA/Kelsey’s research is the latest in a string of unaffiliated surveys with different methodologies that have attempted to gauge social media use among SMBs. Recent research from Citibank about how small businesses market themselves seems to support BIA/Kelsey’s findings that many SMBs are not currently using social media. However, another survey by Internet2Go and MerchantCircle discovered a growing segment of online small-business owners who are aggressively promoting their businesses with social media, especially on Facebook and Twitter.
About the study: Study results come from the latest wave of BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor, the firm’s annual tracking survey of small and medium-sized businesses, conducted with research partner ConStat since 1999. The survey measures where SMBs are spending their advertising and promotional budgets and how their media usage and spending habits are evolving. Local Commerce Monitor draws its sample of business respondents from a mix of nationally scoped MSAs, which include first- and second-tier markets. Local Commerce Monitor Wave XIII was conducted in August 2009 via an online survey of 1,092 SMBs, comprising a core sample of 302 SMBs, plus SMBs from three ’super vertical’ categories: home/trade services, professional services and financial services.
Research conducted by Robert Half Technology in the US has found that out of 1400 US company CIO’s, 54% have banned the use of social networks sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter whilst employees are at work.
CIOs were asked in the survey: Which of the following most closely describes your company’s policy on visiting social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, while at work?” Here is how they responded:
Prohibited completely – 54%
Permitted for business purposes only – 19%
Permitted for limited personal use – 16%
Permitted for any type of personal use – 10%
Don’t know/no answer – 1%
“Using social networking sites may divert employees’ attention away from more pressing priorities, so it’s understandable that some companies limit access,” said Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology. “For some professions, however, these sites can be leveraged as effective business tools, which may be why about one in five companies allows their use for work-related purposes.”
Employees potentially damaging a company’s reputation (not to mention their own) is still a big concern. “Professionals should let common sense prevail when using Facebook and similar sites — even outside of business hours,” said Willmer. “Regrettable posts can be a career liability.”
It’s obvious that corporations are concerned about both security and work ethic when it comes to social networks and the same applies to small business owners who fear losing control of their brand and staff who spend more time on the networks than actually working.
This is where a well planned social media strategy is vitally important today for business, so that everyone involved knows the ground rules, putting those employees to work building the company’s profile on sites such as Facebook is a good start.
The percentage of businesses who prohibit social network use completely is likely to decrease in the near future. There may be an increase in those who only allow it for business use, but as more companies find ways to measure ROI with social media, they’re going to want to get employees involved.
Interesting scenario with business and social networks in Australia, a substantial number of companies not only ban Facebook but also ban staff from accessing the social network site whilst at work. With Neilsen releasing new statistics this month on the continual love affair that consumers are having with Facebook, and the fact that another 2 million people signed up for the site last month, you’d think there would be a massive re think of that strategy.
Time for small business to get on board with social networking before it gets left behind.
It seems Facebook just can’t be stopped, the social media site just keeps on going from strength to strength with its major competitor MySpace losing ground with social networkers, Hitwise has just released new research on the trends within the social sites.
Hitwise puts the social network’s market share of U.S. Internet visits up on a month-over-month basis, way up on a year-over-year basis, and it made significant gains in the “time spent” category, too.
Let’s take a more in depth look at the market share data. Hitwise created a custom category of social networking sites, and within it, Facebook’s market share was 58.59 percent in September of this year. That puts it up by a fair amount over its standing of 55.15 percent in August.
Then, moving further back in time, the 19.94 percent share it controlled in September of 2008 is just tiny by comparison. Indeed, Facebook pulled off a 194 percent year-over-year increase.
As for the number of minutes Facebook users are spending on the site, Hitwise found that it increased by an impressive 23 percent since the same time last year.
Flavour of the year micro blogging site Twitter, and MySpace weren’t nearly so lucky. Twitters market share has skyrocketed by 1,170 percent year-over-year, but the time spent figure has decreased by a whopping 56 percent. And MySpace lost ground in both categories, by 55 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
This all comes on top of another interesting piece of research, over 1400 CIO’s within US companies or 54% don’t allow employees to visit social network sites for any reason whist they are at work.
More on that story in the next post.
Older Posts »
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_a.png?x-id=cbaecf47-a8f1-4397-af94-4c8d39d67613 "Social Media Marketers Declare Success")
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_a.png?x-id=62842cf4-ea72-4814-a84f-0a669f692da8 "Younger Women Step to Social Beat")
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_a.png?x-id=76561a19-4557-4593-b016-a1b59dc7f6e4 "Twitter Usage Low with Small Business Marketers")
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=bc4274e8-e843-413d-be9b-efcdcb8fd409 "Companies Prohibit Social Media Usage")
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e8763c06-35da-4b17-9861-ca1b7f7ee2cf "Facebook Continues Strong Growth")
