Social Media & Networking Journal

Social Networking Habits Vary Considerably Across Asia-Pacific Markets

2010-04-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

comScore, Inc. released its latest report on social networking activity in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China) based on data from its World Metrix service. The study found that 50.8 percent of the total online population in the Asia-Pacific region visited a social networking site in February 2010, reaching a total of 240.3 million visitors. Facebook.com ranked as the top social network across the majority of individual markets in the region, while competing brands commanded the top position in certain markets, including Orkut in India, Mixi.jp in Japan, CyWorld in South Korea and Wretch.cc in Taiwan.

“While social networking continues to be one of the most popular and fastest growing Web activities in the world, its dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region exhibit significantly more individual market differentiation than in other global regions,” said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for Asia Pacific. “In some markets, such as the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia, social networking is one of the most popular Web activities reaching nearly 90 percent of the entire Internet population, while other markets report less PC-based social networking penetration, which can often be attributed to the high propensity to engage in social networking via mobile devices in these markets.”

In February 2010, Internet users in the Asia-Pacific region averaged 2.5 hours on social networking sites during the month and visited the category an average of 15 times. Across markets, the Philippines showed the highest penetration of social networking usage with more than 90 percent of its entire Web population visiting a social networking site during the month, followed by Australia (89.6 percent penetration) and Indonesia (88.6 percent penetration).

Social networkers in the Philippines also showed the highest level of engagement on social networking sites averaging 5.5 hours per visitor in February, with visitors frequenting the social networking category an average of 26 times during the month. Strong engagement was also exhibited by Internet users in Indonesia (5.4 hours per visitor and 22 visits per visitor), Australia (3.8 hours per visitor and 20 visits per visitor) and Malaysia (nearly 3.8 hours per visitor and 22 visits per visitor).

Social Networking Reach and Engagement in Asia Pacific Markets February 2010 *Total Internet Audience, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations Source: comScore World Metrix**
	Social Networking
	% Reach	Average Minutes per Visitor	Average Visits per Visitor
Asia Pacific	50.8	148.9	15.1
Philippines	90.3	332.2	26.3
Australia	89.6	228.0	20.9
Indonesia	88.6	324.4	22.6
Malaysia	84.7	226.0	22.3
Singapore	83.7	220.9	22.1
New Zealand	81.2	217.5	20.3
Taiwan	75.9	131.3	18.3
Hong Kong	75.4	223.3	25.4
India	68.5	130.1	13.0
South Korea	63.5	131.4	16.0
Vietnam	46.1	49.5	7.2
Japan	42.3	120.5	14.0

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

An analysis of top social networks in each of the Asia-Pacific markets included in this report revealed various brand preferences across markets. Facebook.com was the social networking leader in eight of the markets – Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam – while in other countries competing brands captured the top position. Local players led in Japan (Mixi.jp) and South Korea (CyWorld), while Google-owned Orkut ranked as the top social networking site in India and Yahoo!’s Wretch.cc led in Taiwan.

MyCuredComputer.com Combats the Ever-Changing Facebook Virus Koobface

2010-03-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

The Koobface virus is attacking Facebook. Originally discovered in December 2008, a potent version of the virus hit Twitter and other social networks in spring and summer 2009. Updated tracking of the Koobface virus suggests that a specific strain (Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.b) of the computer worm is becoming rampant on Facebook. My Cured Computer, an online computer repair company, is using remote repair and log-in technology to rid infected computers of the Facebook virus.

When Koobface infects a computer, the virus turns it into a useless machine. Koobface has recently started to manipulate the computer registry and trick a computer so that it does not recognize its own files. The virus will also try to collect personal data such as credit card information. Savvy Koobface controllers lure social networking users into infecting their own computers. The virus is starting to attract users with new and more sophisticated ploys. Yet the original method for tricking users still works to spread the virus.

Facebook users will receive a message from their friend’s infected computer. The message directs users to a link and then they will receive a request to download a video player. The download is an executable file that gets past most antivirus programs and infects a user’s computer. Koobface uses popular videos and messages to attract the most views such as breaking news about celebrities. The Koobface scheme does not even require hacking into a hard drive. Users download the virus and then transfer it unknowingly to their Facebook friends. The brains behind Koobface always alter the bad code and try to stay a step ahead of antivirus software.

Crisis Camp Haiti meets today to develop high tech disaster relief strategies

2010-01-16T14:15:00.001-08:00

Today software developers from around Washington, D.C. will come together at the Sunlight Foundation in order to find the best ways to use data and create solutions for aid workers to assist the relief efforts in Haiti. These CrisisCamps, (an idea which arose out of Transparency Camp ‘09), or “Hackathons for Haiti” will also take place in Silicon Valley and London.

The event(s) will bring together specialists in database creation, visualization, geospatial data and other fields in order to build reliable tools that field workers and other volunteers will be able to use on laptops and mobile devices. Ideally some developers will also think about long-term, data-centric solutions, like tracking relief dollars and helping to make the distribution of funds a bit more accountable. (After all, if there’s been difficulty knowing where the billions in Katrina relief went, just imagine the challenge in a country with virtually no social or governmental accountability mechanism like Haiti.)

Perhaps the best part of events such as Crisis Camp is that there’s not necessarily a pre-determined idea of what is needed before folks show up. The openness of Crisis Camp allows for new, innovative ideas to emerge, bounce around, be refined and become something bigger or better before they are created – and all accomplished by volunteers who may not ever wield a hammer for Habitat for Humanity, but contribute just as much with a keystroke and code commit. Visit the Sunlight Foundation portal for complete details

gogo6 Launches gogoNET Social Network for IPv6 Professionals

2009-12-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

gogo6 inc. launched gogoNET, the social network for IPv6 professionals, after a two month beta period. gogoNET’s purpose is to provide the knowledge necessary to help professionals answer the fundamental question: “How should I roll out IPv6 in my network?”

“We built gogoNET because we believe participating in a professional social network is the best way to acquire the knowledge necessary to implement IPv6,” said Bruce Sinclair, gogo6 CEO. “If you think about it, it’s easy to find information on IPv6 but not knowledge. Knowledge comes from formal training, past experience or the experience of others. Given most professionals were not schooled in IPv6, learning it from others is the most practical alternative. gogoNET is a collection of professionals with different IPv6 knowledge - tapping into this allows professionals to make sense of the information out there and to make the right decisions.”

"Web 2.0 is not a defined protocol by W3C, it’s just a collection of social networking apps with proprietary solutions,” said Latif Ladid, President, IPv6 Forum. “W3C is working on standardizing web 2.0 in the web 3.0 protocols. However gogoNET goes beyond web 2/3.0, it promotes the use of the end to end Internet model using IPv6 to generate the next generation web apps to open greater innovation in social networking especially for the mobile networking world in the making.” Visit the gogoNET portal and register for an account to test this new service

Web 3.0 Conference - Preview (January 26-27 in Silicon Valley)

2009-12-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

The emergence of a new era of technologies, collectively known as Web 3.0, provides a strategically significant opportunity to make media and business run better. Also known as the semantic web or linked data, web 3.0 is a web in which data is linked to allow for more meaningful, actionable insight to be extracted. At the conference, we will explore how companies are using these technologies today, and should be using them tomorrow, for significant bottom line impact in areas like marketing, corporate information management, publishing, customer service, and personal productivity.

Speakers include:

Frank Addante, Rubicon

Brooke Aker, Expert System USA

Adam Boyden, Conduit

Scott Brinker, ion interactive

Mark Greaves, Vulcan

Tom Gruber, siri

Any many more ...

Review the complete speaker roster and agenda via the Web 3.0 portal

TwitVid.com Launches Suite of New Features

2009-12-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

TwitVid.com announced the launch of a suite of new features that improve the way people share videos online. Available immediately are two first of its kind features, including real-time video search and video analytics, and virtual gifting.

TwitVid.com’s real-time search feature lets anyone see the most popular videos on Twitter, at that moment in time. The search engine aggregates all TwitVid and YouTube video links currently being shared on Twitter. The proprietary real-time ranking algorithm then ranks the videos based on their relevancy to the search term, current popularity and buzz on Twitter, as well as by their freshness, with the newest videos ranking highest. TwitVid.com’s video analytics tool is the first of its kind on Twitter, enabling members to track their tweeted videos online by day, week, month or total number. Users can see how many times their video has been viewed, the global location of clicks and the top people linking others to your video.

“The social web is constantly changing, and there is a growing demand for new tools that help to enrich the Twitter video experience by letting you share in a smarter way,” said Mo Adham, Co-Founder of TwitVid.com. “Now, for the first time, Twitter video users can evaluate the success of their videos based on the information our analytics tool gathers about the performance of their TwitVids around the web. This is incredibly valuable for musicians, celebrities, publicists, marketers, bloggers, and others as a way to evaluate the success of their online video campaigns.” Visit TwitVid's portal for complete service details

TIBCO Unveils tibbr Workplace Communication Tool

2009-12-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

TIBCO Software introduced tibbr™, a communication tool specifically built for the workplace that allows the right information to find you. Unlike other social networking applications that focus on the concept of “following people,” tibbr is the first to take an entirely new approach to social computing by allowing you to follow granular subjects and machines as well.

Conventional social utilities are typically used to build a network of real-world social connections based on relationships with people. The critical driving force in the enterprise is not tied to people anymore, but rather contextual information and expertise about subjects relevant to an individual’s job. With a subject-based approach, people are decoupled from content to allow a greater degree of flexibility in what information a user needs and wants to receive at precisely the right time.

A tibbr subject can represent a user, an application or a process relevant to a particular business user in an organization. Need to know if the purchase order relevant to your function or group or project was cut? Want to make sure the invoice for your department has been received and processed by Accounts Payable (AP)? Simply subscribe to that subject feed such as Finance, Finance.AP, Finance.AP.Marketing, or even Finance.AP.Marketing.DirectMail.

tibbr filters out all that static and unwanted information clutter by keeping the focus on subjects. This functionality affords business and consumer users the ability to wipe out duplicate posts and re-posts, and eliminate lengthy “reply all” email strings. What TIBCO refers to as: One Message, One Time. And by offering the Power of Choice, tibbr allows information to be delivered in the form, frequency and manner of your preference.

MySpace Socializes Real-Time Content with New Suite of APIs

2009-12-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

MySpace announced a suite of new application programming interfaces (API) that allow developers to leverage public MySpace data and create innovative applications to socialize content on and off MySpace. Opening up access to publicly available real-time data (such as status updates, music, photos, videos) MySpace reinforces its commitment to powering the real-time social Web and the development of open standards.

Mike Jones, Chief Operating Officer at MySpace, is speaking at LeWeb today to share MySpace’s real-time Web strategy and efforts to empower developers with the new APIs. Based on open standards, the new free-to-use APIs include:

•Real-Time Stream API: Allows the full MySpace activity stream to be pushed to third party sites in real-time. The API includes granular filters to control the amount of data seen. Google, GroovyCorp, and OneRiot are among the first to implement this new API.
•Status and Mood Commenting API: Enables third party sites to ingest MySpace status and mood updates and allows people to comment from those sites. Comments appear back in the user’s MySpace activity stream, and users can interact with that stream without leaving the third party site.
•Open Search API: Allows third party sites to include public MySpace profile information in search results. Users can search for people by name, profile type (e.g., musician, celebrity, comedian) or email address and filter search results by gender, age and location.
•Photo Upload API: Makes it easy for users to upload photos to MySpace from third party sites or MySpace Apps. The API enables creation of public or private photo albums.
•Updated Version of Post To/Share on MySpace: Facilitates the sharing of content from third party sites with a MySpace user’s friends. When a user posts content from another site, it goes directly to his/her MySpace activity stream, creating a link back to the third party site.

To encourage innovation from developers, MySpace also announced the “MySpace Developer Challenge.” The competition, which kicks off January 4, will award developers who create the most interesting use of the new APIs with cash prizes and promotion on MySpace. Our judging panel will include Mike Jones - MySpace Chief Operating Officer, Ron Conway - Founder and Managing Partner of Angel Investors LP, David Glazer - Engineering Director at Google and Robert Scoble - Renowned blogger and tech evangelist.

Yahoo! Extends Facebook Integration to Bring Together Social Experiences

2009-12-02T16:25:00.001-08:00

Yahoo! Inc. announced further integration with Facebook that unites social experiences from across the Web to provide a place for consumers to enjoy meaningful content and stay in touch with the people they care about most.

“With this integration, we are opening the door for two of the Internet’s largest online communities to make it easier for people to stay connected,” said Jim Stoneham, vice president of Communities for Yahoo!. “It also enables us to further the Yahoo! Open Strategy, which is aimed at making experiences dramatically more open, social and personally relevant for the more than 500 million people that visit Yahoo! each month.”

Yahoo!’s Facebook Connect integration will give consumers richer experiences on Yahoo!, including in Yahoo! Mail and on properties like Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, and Yahoo! Finance. It will enable them to connect with Facebook friends on Yahoo!, view a feed of their friends’ related activity on Yahoo!, and share content—such as photos from Flickr or comments on news stories—with all of their friends on Facebook. The content that consumers share with Facebook friends will then create a loop that drives visitors back to Yahoo!.

This partnership extends the current Facebook integration on Yahoo! which enables Facebook users to access their stream and update their status from the Yahoo! homepage, provides “Share on Facebook” options across the Yahoo! network, and allows Facebook to access Yahoo! Contacts. People using both Yahoo! and Facebook will soon be able to share updates across both networks, creating a richer and more relevant social experience by connecting the broad range of Yahoo! content and services with their friends on Facebook

Resource Interactive Unveils "Off the Wall" Facebook Ecommerce Experience

2009-10-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Independent digital agency Resource Interactive introduces Off the Wall—an ecommerce experience for brands and their fans on Facebook. Off the Wall allows Facebook users to purchase products directly from a brand or user stream without leaving the Facebook environment.

How Off the Wall works: A brand posts an item for purchase as a status update to its Facebook page. In turn, fans can purchase the product directly from their live feed, news feed or the brand’s wall. They can also share this status update with their friends and its ecommerce functionality is maintained wherever it appears in Facebook.

“Off the Wall is a revolutionary end-to-end ecommerce experience on Facebook. It makes sense from the perspective of both the brand and the fan,” said Dan Shust, Director of Emerging Media from Resource Interactive’s research and development lab. “It gives brands an opportunity to reward their fans with privileged shopping access to hot items or time-sensitive deals. It also addresses the on-demand consumer’s desire to engage in and share relevant brand experiences without leaving their social networking environment.”

“Not only is enabling Facebook users to shop from the feed without leaving the experience ground-breaking in itself, but the sheer network effect is also worth considering,” Shust continued. “The average Facebook user has 130 friends. If a brand with 100,000 fans published an Off the Wall ecommerce update, it’s merely one click away from being shared with 13 million Facebook users. Imagine the possibilities for the holiday season and beyond.” Visit Resource Interactive's portal to experience this new application

BroadVision Clearvale Users Create over 2000 Enterprise Social Networks

2009-10-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

BroadVision that Clearvale, its new Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) solution, has experienced in just three months since launch. Users have eagerly embraced the ability to implement new secure business social networks, with over 2,000 networks created and adopted in the 12 weeks since the product’s initial launch. BroadVision® Clearvale is offered as an on-demand, cloud computing, Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, enabling BroadVision’s business portal, e-commerce customers and other organizations to take advantage of powerful new Web 2.0 technology specifically designed for business, delivered in a social portal.

The rapid proliferation of consumer social networking (CSN) services such as Twitter and Facebook has paved a new way for users around the world to interact and communicate. Global organizations have seen the widespread interest, rapid uptake and potential benefit of these new tools and are seeking to adopt them for business use. However, while many organizations have embraced CSN as a media strategy for branding and lead-generation purposes, most are still struggling to figure out ways to harness Web 2.0 technologies for their own ESN applications. This is due to the fact that essentially all of the now familiar first generation social media tools are focused on an individual’s ability to network with friends, family and acquaintances, not on companies, organizations, or project teams trying to achieve work-oriented objectives and goals.

The Clearvale™ solution is specifically designed to address this problem. Leveraging BroadVision’s 16-year history of knowledge and experience in designing, delivering and deploying enterprise portals, Clearvale has been innovatively engineered to provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use, ESN service delivered in a social portal. Users are able to quickly and effortlessly set up team or business networks, create profiles, and then select from a wide range of standard and premium services as necessary for their work. An open environment, Clearvale also provides users with the ability to implement certified third-party applications, while maintaining the reliability, scalability, performance and security required of traditional enterprise software solutions. Visit Broadvision's Clearvale portal for complete details

StrongMail & Equifax Launch Social Media-Powered Email for New Customer Acquisition

2009-10-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

StrongMail Systems and Equifax announced Equifax Social Influencer, a social media-powered customer acquisition solution that is the first initiative of a newly formed strategic partnership between the two companies. Unique to the industry, Equifax Social Influencer combines StrongMail's Influencer viral marketing solution and strategic services with Equifax's data services and analytics expertise to enable email marketers to expand their reach with highly targeted referral programs based on the recipient's social influence, demographic profile, economic status and other relevant factors.

“We know how businesses can use data to identify and motivate their best customers to become brand advocates,” said Michael Hall, Senior Vice President and GM of Equifax Direct Marketing Services. “StrongMail’s Influencer tool offers the best direct social marketing tool we have seen. By combining StrongMail's social media marketing technology with Equifax's extensive customer information solutions, we are able to offer Equifax and StrongMail clients a truly unique and compelling marketing application for helping leverage a marketer’s retention efforts and expand them to highly valuable acquisition programs.”

With Equifax Social Influencer, email marketers now have a comprehensive solution for leveraging their most influential and qualified customers to build their list exponentially with like-minded consumers. Each engagement is designed to address a company's unique objectives with a customized referral program that motivates a targeted audience to share their network through direct integration via email, blogs and popular social networks like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. The StrongMail press room offers full details of this partnership

CyberLink Launches TrueTheater Enhancer, the Video Playback Enhancer for YouTube

2009-10-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

CyberLink Corp released CyberLink TrueTheater Enhancer that improves the playback quality of videos on YouTube™, including “High Quality” and “HD” online video content. Based on the same advanced TrueTheater Technology that is featured in CyberLink’s leading DVD player software, PowerDVD, TrueTheater Enhancer ensures YouTube™ videos can now be played at full-screen size better than ever. YouTube™ provides a hugely popular platform for watching user-generated and professionally produced video content, however, the quality of video clips varies. CyberLink TrueTheater Enhancer dramatically improves video quality, overcoming common video quality issues that occur when video content is streamed over the web.

“CyberLink is committed to enhancing the video experience on the PC and has taken its expertise in improving video playback quality for DVDs to the field of streamed video,” said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “YouTube™ is a convenient platform for enjoying video content streamed via the web. CyberLink TrueTheater Enhancer is designed to improve video quality on YouTube, offering a better user experience more akin to watching TV than watching online video via an Internet browser.” Visit the Cyberlink portal for a free trail of TrueTheater Enhancer

comScore launches Plan Metrix Mobile™ for Media Planning & Analysis on Mobile Devices

2009-10-08T14:35:00.001-07:00

comScore, Inc. announced the availability of comScore Plan Metrix Mobile, the next generation of its industry-leading Plan Metrix media planning tool for use with mobile consumer segments. Developed in response to marketers’ demand for sophisticated media buying tools in the mobile medium on par with those available for other media, comScore Plan Metrix Mobile provides marketers and their agencies with superior data quality by combining reported mobile behavior measurement and key mobile device ownership characteristics with comprehensive attitudinal, lifestyle and product usage information.

“With more than one-third of mobile users actively engaging with digital content on their phones, it is increasingly important for media planners to understand more sophisticated audience characteristics to effectively reach consumers on their mobile devices,” said Evan Neufeld, vice president and senior analyst of mobile for comScore. “comScore Plan Metrix Mobile gives media planners and buyers the tools needed to target mobile consumers, meeting both their demographic and psychographic requirements, as well as providing insight into the role that device ownership characteristics play in consumer targeting.”

comScore Plan Metrix Mobile provides deep insight into the mobile consumer including technology ownership and usage, expanded demographic profiles, lifestyle, attitudinal, product purchase and offline media consumption data. It allows mobile marketers to identify a set of mobile Web properties that meet target demographic and psychographic requirements across more than 5,000 variables, including purchasing habits and media consumption. This additional level of detail and granularity around consumer profiles is one that marketers are accustomed to having in other media, and need to have in order to justify placement in mobile media. Also included are the key additional dimensions of the characteristics of mobile device ownership and an understanding of mobile content consumption needed to truly optimize mobile media buying. The Plan Metrix Mobile solution portal offer scomplete details

GroupM Search and comScore Release Study on the Interplay Between Search Marketing and Social Media

2009-10-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

GroupM Search and comScore, Inc. announced the results of the first study ever conducted by comScore looking at the relationship between social media exposure and search behaviors. Conducted in tandem with social media agency M80, the study, “The Influenced: Social Media, Search and the Interplay of Consideration and Consumption,” reveals the dramatic correlation influenced discovery of brands through social media has with search behavior, including more lower-funnel searches and increased paid search click-through-rates (CTR). A white paper exploring the results and implications of the study is available on the GroupM Search blog, SearchFuel.

“Every day consumers express their intent via search. Now, we better understand how that intent is established via social media and the interplay between the channels,” said Chris Copeland, chief executive officer of GroupM Search – The Americas. “There is a valuable audience for advertisers to focus on who are engaged with brands through social media and search. The study further validates our view that media discovery, specifically a brand’s owned and earned media, is as important to success as the paid media we handle every day. Generating upper-funnel awareness and influencing consideration through social media can produce better down-the-funnel performance with paid media, such as paid search.” Download the complete study via the SearchFuel portal

Google Sites Surpasses 10 Billion Video Views in August (comScore)

2009-09-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

comScore, Inc. has released August 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that 161 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month, the largest audience ever recorded. Online video reached another all-time high in August with more than 25 billion videos viewed during the month, with Google Sites accounting for more than 10 billion.

Google Sites continued to rank as the top U.S. video property in August as it surpassed the 10 billion videos viewed threshold, representing 40 percent of all videos viewed online. YouTube.com accounted for 99 percent of all videos viewed at the Google Sites property. Microsoft Sites ranked second with 547 million (2.2 percent) followed by Viacom Digital with 539 million videos viewed (2.1 percent) and Hulu with 488 million (1.9 percent).

*Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties by Videos Viewed August 2009 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Video Metrix**
Property	Videos (000)	Share (%) of Videos
Total Internet	25,366,195	100.0
Google Sites	10,051,924	39.6
Microsoft Sites	546,547	2.2
Viacom Digital	539,471	2.1
Hulu	488,255	1.9
Fox Interactive Media	380,115	1.5
Yahoo! Sites	355,226	1.4
Turner Network	298,991	1.2
CBS Interactive	168,993	0.7
Disney Online	162,934	0.6
AOL LLC	156,871	0.

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

More than 161 million viewers watched an average of 157 videos per viewer during the month of August. Google Sites attracted 121.4 million unique viewers during the month (82.8 videos per viewer), followed by Microsoft Sites with 54.9 million viewers (10 videos per viewer) and Yahoo! Sites with 51.6 million viewers (6.9 videos per viewer).

*Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers August 2009 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Video Metrix**
Property	Unique Viewers (000)	Average Videos per Viewer
Total Internet	161,109	157.4
Google Sites	121,393	82.8
Microsoft Sites	54,859	10.0
Yahoo! Sites	51,583	6.9
Fox Interactive Media	48,914	7.8
Viacom Digital	42,415	12.7
Hulu	38,513	12.7
CBS Interactive	35,688	4.7
Turner Network	28,151	10.6
AOL LLC	28,092	5.6
Facebook.com	24,229	4.1

Review the complete survey results via comScore's press room

Twitter's Value Is Set at $1B, Plans to Raise $100M VC Funding (c/o WSJ)

2009-09-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

Twitter Inc. is nearing a deal for as much as $100 million in new funding that would buy the fast-growing Internet-messaging company more time to figure out its business model, according to people familiar with the situation.

The investor group is expected to include mutual-fund giant T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and private-equity firm Insight Venture Partners, which would be new investors to Twitter. Existing Twitter investors, including Spark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners, are also expected to participate in the round, according to the people familiar with the plan. See the WSJ Online portal for comlpete details

Nearly 30% Higher-Income Consumers are Influenced by Social Media (Ad-ology Research)

2009-09-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

Nearly 30% of higher-income consumers said social media influenced their choice of home maintenance or repair services, a markedly higher percentage than other income groups. The Ad-ology Research study also found this group had notably high reports of recent maintenance services performed.

Across all demographics, positive and negative comments were the most influential types of social media. For other online media types, ratings Web sites were the most influential, followed by contractors’ Web sites. The top three influential traditional media types were newspaper, Yellow Pages, and direct mail.

“Some companies may be quick to dismiss social media as something that’s only used by young people, and not worth their effort,” said C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research. “In reality, social media usage is growing across all demographics and can clearly be a way to reach some very lucrative audiences,” Smith said. Review the study findings via Ad-ology Research's portal

Facebook, Nielsen to partner on ad stats (c/o Cnet News)

2009-09-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

As part of the Advertising Week festivities in New York, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg is slated to make a marketing-related announcement on Tuesday morning. The announcement, according to The Wall Street Journal, is a partnership with Nielsen on a product called "Brand Lift," which polls Facebook users on ads that they see on the social network.

There weren't a whole lot of details disclosed. But the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook has a history of big New York marketing pushes to further establish itself as a major player on Madison Avenue. Earlier this year,Sandberg keynoted the AdAge Digital conference to pitch Facebook's "active network" of friend connections as a powerful advertising tool, and two years ago Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the social network's first major advertising initiative shortly after Microsoft had taken a $240 million stake in the company.

Getting statistics on advertising effectiveness is important for Facebook, especially with a longtime industry player like Nielsen on board. While Facebook has been growing in prominence as an digital ad destination, it's still had to do some convincing to combat the industry attitude that social-media advertising doesn't work. This report comes via Cnet News. The officail Facebook-Nielsen announcement is expected to be releases on September 22, 2009 (details to follow).

Google launches Fast Flip

2009-09-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Google Fast Flip is a web application that lets users discover and share news articles. It combines qualities of print and the Web, with the ability to "flip" through pages online as quickly as flipping through a magazine. It also enables users to follow friends and topics, discover new content and create their own custom magazines around searches.

FiSpace.Net - A New Enterprise Communication Solution

2009-09-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

FiSpace.Net, a leading social networking and financial blog website, has released a profile featuring PrismOne Group Inc. a company that provides a unique enterprise communications technology solution. The profile is of interest to investors of enterprise communication technology peers Akamai Technologies, Inc., IBM, HP and Cisco.

PrismOne has announced that Natural Blue Resources, Inc. has selected PrismOne to provide integrated communications services consisting of phone and email hosting services to support Natural Blue's goal of more efficient communication and coordination for their worldwide endeavors. Natural Blue Resources' wholly owned subsidiary of the same name is focused on developing affordable drinking water projects around the globe. The Company's other wholly owned subsidiaries, Net Symphony Corporation and QoVox Corporation, design, develop and offer network-wide fault identification, fault isolation and voice quality assurance products and critical real-time network health and performance monitoring services for both providers and end-users of Internet telephony, now commonly referred to as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP). PrismOne solutions are expected to enhance communication efficiency company-wide for Natural Blue.

More on PMOZ: Already profitable, PrismOne is successfully generating high margin revenue without any overt marketing effort thus far. Q4'08 sales of $365k ($1.5mm/annum Run Rate -- 200% growth over 2007) have validated the superior service/features/value proposition for clients. This highlights the path forward toward domestic growth. The company is currently projecting revenues for Q1'09 to exceed $950k (300% of Q108) -- further validation of the company's expanding appeal and expects to have 6 additional vertical clients launched by end of '09, generating revenues in excess of $3mm. The company projects that its clients will average $350k p.a., at 65% net operating margin. Download the report via the FiSpace.Net web site

Allviant Launches Social Media Philanthropy Initiative to Drive Community Engagement in Youth Programs

2009-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Allviant, Inc. announced the launch of its Social Media Philanthropy initiative to assist local and national non-profits and communities to best leverage the power of social media in their outreach to individuals, communities, donors and partners.

“One of Allviant’s core values is a commitment to improving people’s quality of life and we have a special place in our hearts for children and teens,” said Lilian Myers, Allviant’s chief executive. “We understand that by leveraging technology to ease communications, especially through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, we can engage the greater community in a whole new way. This concept aligns with the vision for our CarePass™ technology as well, which allows consumers to quickly and easily manage the complexities of healthcare through mobile and other popular communication mediums.”

The first non-profit organization selected to participate in this innovative social media program is the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale (BGCGS). Allviant’s social media mentorship of the organization has already resulted in an established Twitter presence and Facebook fan page for the local Club. BGCGS will leverage their new social media knowledge to extend their marketing communications to popular social networking platforms, driving increased response rates, volunteer participation and donations in a cost-effective manner.

“We are grateful to community leaders like Allviant that freely share their resources and expertise, enabling us to further expand the developmental programs for our youth in the community,” said Steve Davidson, president/CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale. “Social media has become a vital communication tool for businesses and individuals, and we want to be able to connect to people on a local and global level.”

Allviant complements their online philanthropy with brick and mortar events such as the recent clothing and housewares drive held at Scottsdale-based ASU SkySong. All donations from the charity drive were delivered to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale Thrift Shop, whose sales proceeds support youth programs at the Club. Visit Allviant's portal for complete social media initiative details

Bazaarvoice Helps Customers Choose Which Canon Product is Right for Them with MobileVoice

2009-09-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Bazaarvoice announced that Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, has launched Bazaarvoice MobileVoice to deliver consumer-generated product ratings and reviews directly to shoppers’ cell phones and mobile devices. Now any shopper in any retail store nationwide can go tom.usa.canon.com to quickly retrieve reviews on thousands of Canon digital imaging and home office business products in order to make the best possible purchase decision. Shoppers can either browse reviews by category or look up a specific keyword or SKU, adding value to the in-store experience and building confidence in purchase decisions.

“Canon is a great example of a manufacturer who understands the new rules of channel marketing,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “The bottom line is that shoppers trust the opinions of their friends and their peers more than any form of advertising, and we now live in a world where 80% of US shoppers seek customer reviews when shopping. By supercharging the store experience with the mobile access directly to the voice of other customers, Canon is able to stand out in the channel and give consumers the information they need to make the smartest purchase, resulting in increased sales, reduced returns, and a better customer experience.”

Canon U.S.A implemented Bazaarvoice with Ratings & Reviews™ earlier this year to enable consumers to rate and review products onwww.usa.canon.com. With Ratings & Reviews and now MobileVoice, Canon is able to provide its customers with immediate access to credible and authentic user-generated content to help them during the research and purchase process and to better serve the majority of buyers who are eager to get detailed information on product attributes and read in-depth reviews from their peers before making a purchase, either online or in-store. Visit Bazaarvoice's portal for complete solution details

YouTube's Internet Movie Streaming Strategy - What is next for NexFlix, Blockbuster?

2009-09-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

Google's YouTube business unit is reportedly in talks with movie and content producers Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, Sony Pictures and Time Warner to stream their movies over the Internet. This potential paradigm shift could be the ultimate fulfillment of the once heralded video on demand (VOD) business model.

This strategy also has cleaar and present implications for DVD rental pioneer Netflix and more traditional video rental players such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video.

Reuters, CNBC and Bloomberg all report tat talks are progressing between YouTube and thse content partners. Undoubtedly will will see one or more "joint" announcements in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, it is fair to assume that Netflix is actively pursuing its own online strategies as well.

Online Social Networks Leak Personal Information to Third-Party Tracking Sites (c/o Worcester Polytechnic Institute)

2009-08-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

More than a half billion people use online social networks, posting vast amounts of information about themselves to share with online friends and colleagues. A new study co-authored by a researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has found that the practices of many popular social networking sites typically make that personal information available to companies that track Web users' browsing habits and allow them to link anonymous browsing habits to specific people. The study, presented recently in Barcelona at the Workshop on Online Social Networks, part of the annual conference of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Data Communications, is the first to describe a mechanism that tracking sites could use to directly link browsing habits to specific individuals.

"When you sign up with a social networking site, you are assigned a unique identifier," says Craig Wills, professor of computer science at WPI, who conducted the study with an industry colleague. "This is a string of numbers or characters that points to your profile. We found that when social networking sites pass information to tracking sites about your activities, they often include this unique identifier. So now a tracking site not only has a profile of your Web browsing activities, it can link that profile to the personal information you post on the social networking site. Now your browsing profile is not just of somebody, it is of you."

Like most commercial websites, online social networks use third-party tracking sites, called aggregators, to learn about the browsing habits of their visitors. Cookies are maintained by a Web browser and contain information that enable tracking sites to build profiles of the websites visited by a user. Each time the user visits a new website, the tracking site can review those cookies and serve up ads that might appeal to the user. For example, if the user frequently visits food sites, he or she might see an ad for a new cookbook. Review the complete details via the Worcester Polytechnic Institute portal