Posts Tagged ‘Social network’
A majority of adults under 65 in the US, several major European countries, and China are concerned about online security, according to a new Financial Times/Harris Poll.
Search Engines, ISPs Raise Concerns
Three in five Americans (61%), majorities of French adults (56%), Spaniards (55%), Chinese (54%) and Britons (52%) as well as 46% of Germans and 40% of Italians are concerned about the amount and security of personal online data that can be accessed by search engines people use, such as Google or Bing. There is slightly more concern over the amount and security of personal online data that can be accessed by people’s Internet Service Provider (between 45% in Italy and 64% in the US).
Hackers Pose Threat
The greatest amount of concern among global respondents regards being hacked. Four in five Americans (81%), Chinese (81%) and Spaniards (79%), three-quarters of French adults (75%) and Britons (73%), and two-thirds of Italians (67%) and Germans (65%) all say they are concerned about the amount and security of personal online data that can be accessed by cybercriminals and hackers. More than half of Spaniards (56%), Americans (55%) and Chinese (53%) say they are very concerned. When it comes to hackers and cybercriminals using online personal data/details, majorities in all seven countries (between 56% and 80%) are worried.
Hackers Pose Threat
The greatest amount of concern among global respondents regards being hacked. Four in five Americans (81%), Chinese (81%) and Spaniards (79%), three-quarters of French adults (75%) and Britons (73%), and two-thirds of Italians (67%) and Germans (65%) all say they are concerned about the amount and security of personal online data that can be accessed by cybercriminals and hackers. More than half of Spaniards (56%), Americans (55%) and Chinese (53%) say they are very concerned. When it comes to hackers and cybercriminals using online personal data/details, majorities in all seven countries (between 56% and 80%) are worried.
Concern amongst social network users on security
US, China More Sensitive about Privacy
When it comes to sharing personal details with a website even if the site makes clear it’s secure, there is a difference by country and a clear divide among some of these countries. Three in five Italians (59%) and half of Spaniards (51%) and Britons (50%) are happy to have some of these personal details shared, while 57% of both Americans and Chinese are not happy to have these details shared.
Germans are split, with 46% saying they would be happy to have these details shared and the same number saying they would be unhappy. French are also divided, but lean slightly toward higher privacy consciousness as 49% would be unhappy and 47% would be happy to have these details shared.
Mixed Cyberattack Expectations
There is a sense of uncertainty regarding cyberattacks. Almost half of Italians (47%), 45% of French adults and 40% of Spaniards are all not sure if they will be the victim of a cyber attack in the next five years. Britons are divided 35% not expecting to be a victim of a cyber attack and 36% unsure. Two in five Germans (38%) and Americans (38%) say they do not expect to be a victim of a cyber attack and Chinese adults are split, with 34% each saying they expect to be a victim and expect to not be a victim.
Cybercrooks Target SocNets
Respondent fears about possible security weaknesses of online social networks may be justified, as cybercriminals are turning their attention to users of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, according to a new report from IT security and data protection firm Sophos.
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.
Moms are empowered consumers who head to the Web to meet their many product needs. With mothers controlling an estimated 80% of household spending, or $1.7 trillion a year, retailers must understand how women’s shopping behavior changes when they have children.
“Moms want to do business with retailers that are respectful and responsive to their needs and concerns,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “How Moms and Retailers Interact Online.”
About 85% of online moms said having a baby changed their purchasing habits, according to “21st Century Mom,” a 2009 study published by BabyCenter, an online community for expectant and new moms. The report also found widespread changes in media usage among moms—many of whom used both mom-centric and mainstream social media sites more than before.
Change in media usage
“Moms band together on social networks to share coupon codes and information about special product deals,” said Mr. Grau. “And a disgruntled mom can exploit the viral effects of the Internet to pressure a business to fix a problem.”
Retailers that want to reach moms can take many steps to appeal to this time-crunched demographic concerned with the health and well-being of their families. Moms appreciate brands that use Twitter to put on a human face to respond to their complaints. They also like easy-to-use Websites with helpful features such as live chat, visualization tools, product reviews, easy returns and curbside pickup.
While Q3 2009 data showed e-mail on top for content-sharing, February 2010 information from social optimization platform Gigya points to Facebook as the Web’s top social sharing hub.
Almost one-half of article links, videos, photos and other content shared via Gigya’s widgets are posted to Facebook, with another 29% broadcast through tweets.
Social Media sites used by US Internet users to share online content
Social sharing widget AddThis also distributed the most content on Facebook (33%), followed by a long tail of other options. Similar results were posted in summer 2009 by the AddToAny sharing widget; Facebook, with 24% of shares, took the top spot.
In addition to sharing content with contacts, social site logins are often chosen as a method of user authentication on third-party sites. Facebook was No. 1 for this purpose as well, but usage was dependent on content type, indicating that Facebook users may be most concerned with sharing fun, entertaining content on the network.
Breakdown of sites used to share information and content
The social giant’s 52% share of authentications on entertainment sites dropped to just 31% on news sites, where Google made a close second place showing with 30% of logins. Yahoo! also boosted its share to one-quarter of news site authentications.
Every day I can guarantee that you will be impacted in some way by social media, there will be experts telling you, you need a profile on social networks like Facebook, and that Twitter is the best thing since sliced bread was invented, so you create a profile and you start to tell everyone and anyone who will listen about your latest product or service, but is that really the way to approach social media, doing the same thing you do every day on more traditional mediums?
Taking this approach to your social media strategy will do nothing more than waste your precious time, time that could be spent prospecting for new business opportunities and working with your clients face to face.
I know some younger business owners who think that social media and the Internet will replace face to face contact, the reality is it won’t, however the very same principles you use face to face, apply to social media, the only difference being the method of delivery.
I know of some major companies who have launched their social strategy with profiles on this site and that network, yet their sites are full of their staff members or franchises congratulating themselves on such forward progress, but where is the consumer?, where is the engagement factor?, where is the interaction with the people that count the most, your customers.
This should be the reason you create your social media strategy in the first place, to create the local expert, the trusted advisor role, create and engage your community and to provide information and advice for the long term.
One question to ask yourself is, why do people interact within social network sites in the first place? Is it to get your latest product or service? No, No, No, they are there to connect, to engage and interact with other like minded people, to share experiences, to share activities and create a sense of community and to stay in touch with family and friends.
You as a business person need to understand this motivation and work with it to really maximise the return on your investment of time in creating a social media strategy for you and your business. So what is the best way to approach a social media strategy, firstly you need to work out why you want to have a presence on social networks, is it because everyone else is doing it? Is it because your competitor down the road is doing it so you should as well right? Well wrong actually, do it because it gives you another advertising medium to capture the attention of prospective customers, do it because it is a huge billboard of opportunity to take your message to the masses, do it for you and the exposure it can bring you and your brand, do it because you are an expert in your field and do it because people are looking for an expert to advise, coach and motivate them.
Start by doing a business and digital media strategy and look at ways in which you’ll start to build an audience, do you start a blog first, do you jump on Facebook and MySpace or do you start using Twitter and on what network sites do you create a profile.
How do you declare your brand identity? Remember, you should be focused on how you and your team help other people, being the business to call when requiring a service or product and raising the profile of you and your business on the web.
The first step, is create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube. Check in and see where you fit in to the community, upload or add all of your contacts into Facebook and start a routine of regularly adding “friends” to your page, the goal is to get your personal contacts engaged and to start to follow and engaging with other local businesses, build a schedule so that you can allocate time each week to this, otherwise you will find yourself becoming overwhelmed with trying to keep up with all the conversations that happen.
As you become more familiar with the sites you learn that Linkedin or Twitter may not be for you, that’s fine, at least you are now more informed than you where when you started.
You are learning, next you can start to build your blog, your blog web site is your central hub with all roads leading to it, and everything you do should be designed to get people to your blog and interacting with you on your territory.
It’s great to have a Facebook page but even better when you have both working for you; you are in a win win situation.
Remember, with your blog comes responsibility, you’ll need to add content to it regularly and this takes time, so you should allocate at least 2+ hours a week.
Use the same strategy for all the social network sites you use, allocate time each week in your plan to update your sites and remember it’s about engaging your community not only about promoting your latest product.
We can help you save time and money in building your social media business plan and setting up your pages and blog, we provide weekly coaching clinics that provide information and advice on content and tactics for social media. If you’d like to find out more about our social media integration plans and coaching clinics contact me at Mike Andrew Consulting and we’ll design and set up a coaching plan for you.
Marketers going after moms on social networks such as Facebook know by now that users rarely embrace ads in environments where they are focused on socializing with friends.
Data from lucid marketing and Lisa Finn shows that most mom Facebook users feel neutral about ads on the social network, compared with about 36% who actively disliked them. Only a tiny percentage of respondents reported liking ads on Facebook.
Attitudes of US mothers towards Facebook advertising
Moms were much more receptive to marketing in general, however—at least when done on their terms. Though most moms used Facebook primarily to keep in touch with friends and family, and only 10.4% said they focused on checking out companies or products, three-quarters were fans of at least one company or brand.
Reasons US mothers use Facebook
Further, some 16% of mom Facebook users followed more than 10 companies’ fan pages. Respondents named parenting-specific pages as their favorites, along with restaurant, grocery and entertainment pages—especially kid-oriented ones.
The survey found mothers on Facebook savvy about marketing and skeptical of offers that seemed to good to be true. They expected companies to be straightforward and respectful of their time, and indicated a great interest in special offers and deals exclusive to Facebook, such as coupons they could send to their friends on the site.
“Facebook is fertile ground for marketers to engage mothers and drive sales, but it needs to be done on their terms,” said Kevin Burke, president of lucid marketing, in a statement. “They have no time for brands that don’t ‘get it,’ but they do embrace brands that play by their rules.”
Global consumers increased the amount of time they spent on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter by 82% in December 2009 compared to December 2008, according to The Nielsen Company.
Time, Unique Audience Increases for Social Networking Sites
In December 2008, global consumers spent an average of three hours, three minutes and 54 seconds on social networking sites. That amount of time increased to five hours, 35 minutes and five seconds one year later. In addition, unique audience increased 27%, from 242 million in December 2008 to 307.4 million in December 2009.
Facebook Increases US Dominance
Facebook dramatically increased its dominance of the US online social networking market between December 2008 and December 2009. In December 2009, Facebook recorded about 110 million unique visitors, a 100% increase from 55 million unique visitors in December 2008. Myspace, which remained the second-most popular US online social network, saw its number of unique visitors drop about 17%, from roughly 60 million in December 2008 to roughly 50 million in December 2009. While Twitter only recorded 18.1 million unique visitors in December 2009, this represented 579% growth from 2.7 million unique visitors a year earlier.
Aussies Love Spending Time on Social Networks
Australians’ reputation for sociability transcends into the virtual world. Although Australia only ranked number nine on the list of countries with total social network unique audience for December 2009 (9.9 million), on average Australians spent the most time on social networks for the month (six hours, 52 minutes, 28 seconds). The US by far led in unique audience during December 2009 (142 million) but came in second in terms of time spent on social networks (six hours, nine minutes, 13 seconds). Japan had the second-highest unique audience monthly total (46.5 million) but came in 10th for time spent per person (two hours, 50 minutes, 21 seconds).
Facebook Beats Text, Email
In one sign that it is truly becoming a dominant means of communication, a recent survey by Prompt Communications indicates that among a pool of 300 consumers in Boston, 96% of them use Facebook to communicate with friends and family on a regular basis. While Facebook trailed the phone at 99%, it beat text messaging at 93% and email at 91%.
Socialo Media is about buzz and excitement or is it
Brand marketers want consumers to follow them to build buzz and engagement, but social media users often desire something in return. What they’ve come to expect is a good deal, but many consumers—including the most active users of social sites—are also interested in deeper engagement.
A December 2009 MarketingSherpa survey indicated that learning about specials and sales was the top motivation of those who friended or followed a brand online, supporting the results of earlier surveys. But looking for savings was followed closely by learning about new products, features or services.
Reasons for Friending on Social Sites
Users described as “max connectors”—those with at least 500 social connections—were less interested than average in getting deals. Instead, they cared about new products and company culture, demonstrating the deeper engagement expected by social media power users.
An earlier study, by Razorfish, also found that exclusive deals and offers were the primary motivation of US Internet users following brands on Twitter.
Reasons US Internet Users Follow a Brand
Respondents who friended a brand on Facebook or MySpace responded similarly, though they were more likely to become a fan because they were a current customer (32.9%) than were users of Twitter.
Sharing interesting content that users care about, along with the deals and discounts they have come to expect, will both keep them engaged and spur them to pass along marketing messages.
Join Social Media College on Facebook
Social Media College now has our own dedicated Facebook fan page and we’d love for you to befriend os on oiur Facebook site. You’ll find lots of valuable information on social media as well as updates and advice for small business owners wanting to set up a social media strategy for their business.
To become a fan on Facebook please click the link, Social Media College Fan Page
Web 2.0 technology
The proliferation of consumer-based social networking throughout enterprise organizations is creating a significant amount of security risk that needs to be better understood and carefully managed before it’s too late, according to the results of a global study commissioned by Cisco, which revealed a widespread and growing need for more policies, processes and IT architecture.
The study, which was designed to assess how organizations use consumer social networking tools to collaborate externally and how such use is governed, found that the use of consumer-based social networking tools – such as Facebook and Twitter – as collaboration platforms is connecting organizations with the external world unprecedented ways.
But while these tools have the promise to better marry technology and business, link people and information, establish potential new routes to market, and enhance customer intimacy and brand awareness, the business world is still only in the early stages of identifying key challenges, such as the need for increased governance and IT involvement.
Key findings from the study are highlighted below.
Increased Use of Consumer-Based Social Networking
- Three-fourths (75%) of the organizations participating in the study identify social networks as the consumer-based social media tools they primarily use, while roughly 50% also identify extensive use of microblogging.
- Social networking tools are spreading into core areas of the value chain, including the marketing and communications, human relations, and customer service departments. Within marketing and communications, these tools have already become an integral part of the organizations’ initiatives, as marketing communications staff members have understood and acted on the shift from “broadcast” to “conversational” communications or rich interactions.
- Small and medium-sized businesses are actively using social networking channels to generate leads, but this remains a growth opportunity for larger companies, according to Cisco.
The Need for More Governance and IT Involvement in Social Media Efforts
- 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. This indicates that the potential risks associated with these tools in the enterprise are either overlooked or not well understood.
- Only one in five participants identified any policies in place concerning the use of consumer-based social networking technologies in the enterprise.
- Within the respondent base, social networking governance typically involves more stakeholders than standard corporate initiatives, as these organizations have yet to define who “owns” external social media strategies. Without a single point of ownership within organizations, these initiatives are extremely difficult to control and manage.
- Because of the unstructured nature of social networking, companies continue to struggle with policy creation and adoption, as copying an established governance process from other, more structured areas (for example, information technology) often doesn’t work for social networking. Businesses also find difficulty in striking the right balance between the social and personal nature of these tools while maintaining some degree of corporate oversight.
- Only one in 10 respondents noted direct IT involvement in externally facing social networking initiatives. Although the IT department is typically not
involved as a primary decision maker, respondents did recognize the need for these tools to scale and properly integrate with existing business processes
to reap maximum benefits.
The Future of Social Networking and Collaboration Tools in the Enterprise
- Across the board, respondents recognized that consumer-based social networking and collaboration tools will continue to evolve, as will their complexity, and that these tools will continue to influence the way business is conducted. The key for organizations will be the way they adopt and integrate these tools into the enterprise IT environment.
- The following issues need to be addressed regarding the adoption, deployment and governance of social networking in the enterprise: when, how and what initiatives are to be launched (and not launched); how the enabling technologies should be managed; and how employee use of these technologies should be managed.
“The research findings spotlight an underestimation of the power and influence of social networks on businesses, and the transformation that companies need
to make, not only to protect themselves, but also to encourage and benefit from the collaboration these social networks and tools afford them,” said Evgeny Kaganer, Ph.D., lead researcher and assistant professor, IESE Business School. “Ignoring the increased usage and influence of social networking and Web 2.0 tools leaves organizations at the risk of misuse, potentially leading to the disclosure of information and misrepresentation of the company.”
A separate study from 2009 by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law yielded findings that sync with Cisco’s. That study found that although 70% of US marketing, management and HR executives say they plan to increase social-media use at their companies, more than 80% say they are concerned about the risks, and many do not have policies or training in place to avert reputation mishaps or lost productivity.
Another study, by Nucleus Research, found that companies that allow their workers to access to Facebook during business hours lose an average of 1.5% in total employee productivity.
Yellow Pages Directory
Though 2009 was a tough year for some Yellow Pages directory publishers, the industry is entering 2010 with “fresh optimism,” according to Neg Norton, president of the Yellow Pages Association (YPA), who noted that small businesses are beginning to show signs of recovery and growth. At the same time, publishers are diversifying their business models to incorporate more online offerings and more interactive capabilities.
In a blog post on Search Engine Land, Norton recently shared his top-four market trend predictions that will likely affect small businesses looking to harness local search.
The top local search predictions for 2010:
1. Mobile will drive local search growth: Last year, BIA/Kelsey predicted that mobile local search ad revenues will grow to $130 million by 2013, and that mobile local searches will increase to 35% of all searches by 2013. Amid this growth, the Yellow Pages industry is seeing significant innovation on the mobile front, from new Yellow Pages iPhone apps to mapping technologies that deliver relevant local information to users on the go.
Norton added that in 2010, advertisers will be faced with a growing set of options, and many will have limited knowledge of how to break through. The providers that will do well will be the ones who can make sense of this quickly changing platform and deliver programs that offer quality sales leads to advertisers.
2. Local search providers will vie for social: Though no one yet “owns” social local search, all of the major players in the space have their eye on this prize. This is because, according to Nielsen, ad spending at top social media sites increased 119% over the last year, and the share of social media ad spending to total online spending doubled to 15% in 2009.
Because of the significant trust that exists within online social communities and the fact that social networks have become a crucial way in which consumers relate to one another, players in the local search industry will seek to find ways to tap into those networks to serve local business information to consumers in search of it.
3. Local print advertising will decline but won’t disappear: Though many industry watchers have been predicting the death of print media for a long time, Norton doesn’t think it will disappear anytime soon. Instead, he points to the fact that usage is changing. Media fragmentation is causing a gradual decline in the quantity of print Yellow Pages references, for example, although the quality of those references is still very high. Norton added that the “perception of usage decline in the printed Yellow Pages far exceeds the reality of what is actually happening.”
“For advertisers, this shift in usage means taking a close look at advertising spending and evaluating investment in print,” Norton said. “Those who are too quick to abandon it may see a reduction in qualified sales leads, while those who aren’t open newer platforms might be missing opportunity.”
4. A hybrid marketing approach will win: A good deal of Yellow Pages industry discussion this year has focused on the hybrid model that has been deployed in many sales teams. Yellow Pages sales representatives, for example, are now armed with portfolios of options ranging from owned products to partner products. In this way, the reps are positioned as advertising consultants to small businesses.
To take advantage of such resources, advertisers need to devote some time to thinking through their options and devising a strategy that spans the appropriate media for the business. “It’s more important than ever to consider a hybrid approach because today’s consumers get information for a multitude of places before making a purchasing decision,” Norton said, adding that this fragmentation will only continue to grow in 2010 and beyond.
Older Posts »
