Is Foursquare the next Facebook?

Caroline McCarthy of CNET News provides an interesting perspective on all of the hype around Foursquare.  Foursquare is one of several location-based social networking sites that have popped up in the last year.  Google has been aiming for this space with BuzzLoopt and Gowalla have been competing for users as well.  

With Yahoo aiming to buy Foursquare for as much as $125 million, April 16th being declared Foursquare Day, and nearly one million users across the country, it's no wonder the media has been paying attention to this service. 

McCarthy, though, questions whether this phenomenon will hit its limit soon.  Unlike Twitter and Facebook which can be used by all kinds of people no matter place or location, Foursquare is targeted towards a niche user - a person who lives in a metropolitan area with a high density of options and who frequently goes out to new places.  Part of the appeal of Foursquare is the ability to unlock badges and you won't be able to collect too many if you live in a small town.  Most college kids or soccer moms won't be able to take full advantage of the services of Foursquare for that reason.  

Yet, this service is changing the landscape of social networking.  It's bridging relationships between small businesses and consumers.  It's taking social networking out of the computer room and onto the streets.  And, its popularity is still growing.  

Will Foursquare be the next Second Life or the next Facebook?

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Facebook Introduces "Community Pages"

Have you ever been on Facebook, typed in a brand into the search engine and noticed numerous fan pages popping up?   How can you tell what is the "official" page controlled by the brand, and what are the "unofficial" ones spontaneously created by brand fans?  

Well, Facebook has finally tackled that problem by introducing "Community Pages".  This provides an opportunity for companies to control their brand image a little more through their fan page, and give fans an opportunity to create their own fan pages for their favorite brands.   

However, this feature might cause extra work for brand managers.  One of the key features of these new "community pages" is that every member can be an admin, once the number of participants hits a certain threshold.  Paying attention to the conversations on these pages will be critical to knowing brand perceptions.   

This will hopefully allow companies to establish a clear presence on Facebook, but still allow community participation and interaction.  

Do you think there will be an explosion of "community pages" on Facebook, and how do you think companies and organizations need to interact with them?  

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When It Comes to Social Media, Stick with the Professionals

The New York Times recently highlighted the blunders of companies who have failed to manage their brands in the social media world.  Haphazardly delegating your "tweets" and "status updates" to interns can be incredibly damaging to a brand and turn customers away.  This is why Business Schools across the globe are now incorporating social media courses in their curriculums.  Schools like the London Business SchoolHarvard Business School, and Insead are training their students on how to build marketing strategies within social networks.  

The article continues to highlight the importance of industry experience when managing a brand, as many companies interviewing younger graduates assume that their experiences within social media might be enough.  

Do you think these classes will prepare students for brand management in the social media world?  

 

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What's the Buzz on Google Buzz?

Last month, Google began its venture into the social media world by launching Google Buzz.  It's a new social network that has a distinct advantage - it taps into the networks of over 176 million existing gmail users and integrates it into their accounts. 

Google Buzz is unique in that it integrates other social media, such as TwitterFlickrGoogle Reader, and other networks into people's Google Buzz feeds.  

However, Google made some key mistakes in the Google Buzz launch.  They first assumed that the people we e-mail the most are the ones we want following us on Google Buzz.  Not the case for this woman, who all of a sudden had her ex-husband following her.  

This has also brought on several lawsuits including one filed by a Harvard law student and another in Rhode Island.

The potential for Google Buzz is yet to be seen.  How have you been using Google Buzz and do you think it compliments or replaces your existing social networks?

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Facebook Beats Google in Driving Traffic

Social media is changing the game.  For the last decade, search engines, in general, and Google specifically have been driving most of the traffic to content producing sites likeYahoo and MSN.   But, that has changed with more than 400 million people on Facebook, and people sharing news and stories through that platform.  Users are relying more heavily on the recommendations of friends than their own Internet browsing.  This is a trend that should be noticed as SEO and a company's social media presence are both critical to a successful marketing campaign.  

   
Click here to download:
Facebook_Beats_Google_in_Drivi.zip (31 KB)

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Google Buys Aardvark: Changing the Q&A Online Landscape

Now that Google has launched Google Buzz with 9 million posts in less than 3 days of it entering people's Gmail accounts across the world, they have also announced their acquisition of Aardvark.  For $50 million Google now has access to Aardvark's technology that allows people to ask questions to either their network or to the public at large.  Ideally the "public at large" means those questions will be answered by experts in those fields.  The greatest part of this technology is that the answers to your questions will be pushed back to you through E-mail, Instant Message, Twitter, and eventually Google Buzz.   Google is clearly getting deep into the online social networking field, and they are doing it buy adding the kind of features that will make it useful to their users.  

However, it may take a couple years for this feature to be completely robust, as Aardvark says they are still two years away from handling the support volume they anticipate.  In the meantime, it's nice to see Google enhancing their search features by adding the technology of Aardvark into their repertoire.

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Google Chrome OS To Launch Within A Week

by Michael Arrington on November 13, 2009

Google’s Chrome OS project, first announced in July, will become available for download within a week, we’ve heard from a reliable source. Google previously said to expect an early version of the OS in the fall.

What can we expect? Driver support will likely be a weak point. We’ve heard at various times that Google has a legion of engineers working on the not so glamorous task of building hardware drivers. And we’ve also heard conflicting rumors that Google is mostly relying on hardware manufacturers to create those drivers. Whatever the truth, and it’s likely in between, having a robust set of functioning drivers is extremely important to Chrome OS’s success. People will want to download this to whatever computer they use and have it just work.

To read more click here: http://bit.ly/2V9qJd

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Is MySpace the Ghetto? Survey Says...

From CNN:
Like a lot of people, Anna Owens began using MySpace more than four years ago to keep in touch with friends who weren't in college.

Our real-world friendships are often a reflection of who we connect with online, experts say.

Our real-world friendships are often a reflection of who we connect with online, experts say.

But soon she felt too old for the social-networking site, and the customizable pages with music that were fun at first began to annoy her. By the time she graduated from the University of Puget Sound, Owens' classmates weren't on MySpace -- they were on Facebook.

Throughout graduate school and beyond, as her network began to expand, Owens ceased using MySpace altogether. Facebook had come to represent the whole of her social and professional universe.

"MySpace has one population, Facebook has another," said the 26-year-old, who works for an affordable-housing nonprofit in San Francisco, California. "Blue-collar, part-time workers might like the appeal of MySpace more -- it definitely depends on who you meet and what they use; that's what motivates people to join and stay interested."

Is there a class divide online? Research suggests yes. A recent study by market research firm Nielsen Claritas found that people in more affluent demographics are 25 percent more likely to be found friending on Facebook, while the less affluent are 37 percent more likely to connect on MySpace.

More specifically, almost 23 percent of Facebook users earn more than $100,000 a year, compared to slightly more than 16 percent of MySpace users. On the other end of the spectrum, 37 percent of MySpace members earn less than $50,000 annually, compared with about 28 percent of Facebook users.

Click here for the entire story.

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Social Media Revolution

Awesome Video that shows you just how far we have come in the Social Revolution. Also makes you wonder where we are headed...

 

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Facebook Soars, MySpace Shrinks and Twitter Slows

Seems like Maverick isnt the only one having issues with Twitter. Hitwise is reporting the Twitter seems to have "hit the wall". Or perhaps people are getting fed up that their accounts get turned off for no apparent reason and then are left to haggle with the "ghosts" of twitter customer service. For the entire article click here - http://bit.ly/3EdsF6

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