Social Media Roundup #23

Welcome to the second installment of eModeration's weekly social media round-up. Here you will find a note of all that is intriguing, alarming or odd in the world of social media, compiled by Kate Williams (@emodkate).

In this update: Dunbar's Number; Seesmic jumpstarts Twitter's stats; and how the Nexus One Nixes Bad Words.


ON FACEBOOK ...

ON TWITTER ...

ON GOOGLE ...

BRANDS GET SOCIAL ...

UNDER THE GAVEL ...

SOCIAL STATS ...

ON MOBILE ...



ON FACEBOOK ...

Hoorah! Those of you who feel mildly ashamed that your tally of Facebook Friends isn't quite what it should be can hold your heads high once more. Professor Robin Dunbar is the scientist behind the gloriously-named ‘Dunbar’s Number’ - the theory that the optimum number in any human group is 150. Most recently he’s been applying his considerable brain to the study of social networks, and reports that his theory holds true there too: even if a person has 1500 Facebook friends, they cannot sustain a meaningful relationship with more than a tenth of them. Go tell your more popular associates to put that in their popes and smike it.

Brands pricked up their ears last week at the preliminary rollout of Facebook’s Post Insights, which lets them check the number of hits and the quality of feedback on individual posts. The fact that Facebook keeps its valuable metrics firmly clutched to its bosom has long been a source of grumpiness for brands – and the limited insights offered by this new feature is unlikely to change that. Still, as Mashable notes, it’s better than a slap round the head with a wet flannel.

Facebook also rolled out their version of a retweet last week. Called a ‘Via’, it allows you to republish another user’s posted links (though oddly not their status updates or photos). Your friends will see the repost in their News Feeds, inching Facebook closer to Twitter’s real-time offer.

And that’s the context in which this piece from the Telegraph analyzes Facebook’s recent privacy changes. Despite Mark Zuckerberg’s recent assertion that Facebook was responding reactively to a new social norm, it’s perhaps more realistic to view the move as the latest attempt to challenge Twitter in the real-time search arena. “When content is public, Facebook wins”.

More on precisely how Facebook is winning is contained in this useful breakdown of Facebook’s revenue streams – a handy guide from All Facebook to the many and varied ways in which the ‘Book makes money, and might make more in the future.


ON TWITTER ...

Astronaut Timothy Creamer last week established an internet connection from the International Space Station - and began tweeting live from space. Previously, the crew had to email Houston with their tweets, who would then post them to Twitter. The historic first direct post read: "We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station – the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s". Truly, a giant tweet for mankind.

Back here on earth, things are hotting up for Twitter as they launch location-based trending topics. With Facebook crowding in on Twitter’s lead in real-time, the microblogging service appear to be shifting focus to location-aware services, with a view to establishing a dominant position in all things local. A full rollout is promised next week, although the roster of locations is still pretty limited - 15 US cities and a smattering of global metropoles. But location-sharing is set to be the Top Tech Trend of 2010 (say it fast) – and for Twitter, there is much to play for.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s stuttering growth might get a jumpstart from Seesmic, who’ve just launched a new app they’re calling Seesmic Look. The idea is to hook in users who don’t have a whole lot to say themselves, but are nevertheless interested in seeing what the various celebs, brands and media outlets which crowd the microblogging service are chattering about. The new interface hopes to present Twitter as an entertainment experience – you judge its chances of success for yourselves, right here.

Elsewhere Dick Costolo, Twitter’s COO, confirmed that the microblogging company won’t be making an initial public offering (IPO) in 2010. Instead, he anticipates revenue growth from a new advertising platform, commercial analytics features for brands - and “at least” ten more distribution deals.


ON GOOGLE ...

Hillary Clinton’s recent speech - which called on China to change its policy of internet censorship and conduct a full investigation into the recent attack on Google - has produced a grouchy response from the Chinese foreign ministry. They say that the criticism is “contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-US relations” and urge the US to “cease using so-called internet freedom to make groundless accusations against China."

And in related and not entirely unpredictable news, Google announced that they were postponing the launch of a web- and email-enabled smartphone which they’d been developing with the mobile carrier China Unicom, amidst uncertainty as to whether these Google services will be available there for very much longer.

No matter - Google has outrun the recession in spectacular style, with an astonishing 54% increase in profits last year, bringing their total profit to $6.52bn (£4.02bn). They promise massive investment this year to ensure that their domination of the search space continues unhampered – a recent Bellwether marketing report found that spend on search has increased by 11.5% in the last quarter.

Finally – and a tad ironically given Google’s recent stand on censorship – it emerged that the Nexus One’s speech-to-text function stubbornly refuses to let you swear. No matter how potty-mouthed the rant, the best the phone can muster is a stream of ###s. Reassuringly, Google claim they do not wish to curtail our cussing rights, but to prevent smatterings of Anglo-Saxon vernacular from mistakenly appearing in users’ transcription – a strong possibility given the relative newness of voice-recognition technology.


BRANDS GET SOCIAL ...

Santander has developed a mobile and Facebook puzzle game through which to push its rebrand of Abbey and Bradford & Bingley building societies. The game also allows users to share their scores via Facebook and Twitter, and is being distributed via a pre-existing Santander Students Facebook Page which already has 24,000 fans.

Black & Decker marks its 100th birthday with a microsite which looks back on the history of the brand, as well as allowing employees and customers to share their Black & Decker-based memories.

The British Museum has partnered with the BBC to launch a digital museum of objects which relate the history of the world . The site also allows the public to upload photos and stories of objects which they believe expand our understanding of history.

Red Bull has expanded its space in Sony's PlayStation Home, with a Flugtag area which allows users to fly some of the DIY aircraft built by crash enthusiasts over the past 2 decades – as well as an area which features the company’s Illume sports competition.

Nestle’s Toll House virtual cookies campaign was a resounding success, with 1.1m of the delightfully calorie-free virtual goods sent by Facebook users. With each cookie sent, an interactive frame customized with their photos appeared in users’ news feed. Friends could then upload their own photos as the campaign widened.



SOCIAL STATS ...

Nielsen Online report that global internet users spent an average of 5½ hours on social networking sites last month – up by a stonking 82% on the previous year and expanding numbers by a full 50%, from 211 million to 307 million. Surprisingly, Australia takes the gold when it comes to time spent, putting in an impressive 6 hours 52 minutes and comfortably trouncing the US with 6:09, and the UK with 6:08.

And the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) reports that women with children at home are more likely to use Facebook (60.3%), MySpace (42.4%) and Twitter (16.5%) than average adults (50.2%, 34.4%, 15.0%, respectively). What’s more, a whopping 15.3% maintain their own blog (really?). The report warns that brands which fail to engage with mothers via social media are missing out.

Which sparkling stats explain why 66% of marketers plan to invest in social media marketing over the coming year, according to Alterian’s latest study. 36% of them will also be investing in monitoring and analysis tools.

Meanwhile, digital agencies grew more than any other marketing sector in 2009, with the top 30 agencies reporting revenue growth of 18%, per a report from Kingston Smith WI.


ON MOBILE ...

Revenue from mobile applications will explode over the next few years, according to a new report from Gartner – up 60% from the $4.2 billion spent in 2009, to $6.8 billion in 2010. By 2013, mobile apps will produce nearly $30 billion in revenue – quadrupling 2010 figures.

The Labour Party is about to launch its first iPhone app, which will allow supporters to access party events searchable by postcode, and to rally support by canvassing potential voters by phone.

Finally, Apple has moved to squash one of the more extreme attempts to garner info on their upcoming tablet, which is due to be revealed on 27th January. The Valleywag blog had offered a substantial reward for pics and video (between $10,000 and $50,000 no less) of Apple’s eagerly awaited touchscreen computer – but a recent lawyers’ letter to the blog said “your company crossed the line by offering a bounty for the theft of Apple's trade secrets. Such an offer is illegal and Apple insists that you immediately discontinue the scavenger Hunt."


That’s all folks!