The valuation asks investors to fork out double the value of Google and even more so of Twitter, despite their increased competition to Facebook’s monopolising success. This valuation is not undeserved however, as the social network has managed to prove its worth through revenue, value and various new directions and channels yet to be conquered, by the social networking giant.

The full details have not been disclosed as yet, and the amount of shares still remains a mystery, but it is known that the 100 billion figure is based on the 100 times the income made by the site in 2011.

The 800 million users of Facebook see the company’s money making schemes everyday, in the form of targeted, user specific ads that address interests and information disclosed by users on their Facebook profile. Ads of this nature have been steadily rising in popularity and value,  and are set to increase even further bringing as much as 20% more income this year.

What next for Facebook?

In order to justify and keep those extortionate share prices (speculated at over $84 a pop) Facebook will have to develop the existing channels, and create new ways to keep spending on the site high.

As advertising is one of the sites key revenue sources, this will be an element to maintain and grow, with what I predict will be even more targeted and interactive ads with sponsored news feed items. Given that the amount of time spent by individual users on the site averaged 7 hours per month in comparison to Google’s 4.5, Facebook is set to increase the prominence of their credit system allowing users to buy credits and exchange them for goods.

Should you buy?

If you have a couple of million to spare, then the ability to buy American stocks may certainly pay off, and Facebook specifically with a pretty strong hold in the market, could make you even more, but given that the current highest shareholder, Mark Zuckerberg (obviously) has 24% accumulating to $5.3billion, you would have to buy a fair few shares before you started to see any real return on your investment.

Although many are calling it the deal of the year, and some, as far as deal of the century, the reality is that the hype will inflate the share prices making the demand high and the cost great. Forbes quoted an expert who predicted that the supply will be so tight in relation to demand that it the stock will outstrip the supply by a factor of 4 to 1.

With this in mind, and the fact that many believe, with historical evidence on their side, that Facebook has reached its pinnacle, now may not be the time to invest in the site. How much further can the social network go? Many see social networks as a short term investment, and have criticised Facebook’s poor advertising model leading to a risky investment that may never pay off. Maybe we should have invested 4 or 5 years ago, but alas, those days have passed us by, so we should probably save the money for now…

This photo sums up a lot of Tweets and wall posts from the announcement day (as found on mashable.com)

When YouTube began in 2005, the site was a utopia of different videos, from individuals, about anything and everything. Brands and businesses have been fearful of the uncontrollably free nature of the site and often avoided it completely to ensure they weren’t mixed up in all the nonsense.

Nowadays however, the scene could not be more different. Brands are embracing the video revolution and are uploading work, adverts and marketing material to the site onto branded channels where all their messages can be found.

But how easy is it to create a truly useful and successful YouTube channel and how do you actually do it? Read on to discover Xposure’s tips on your YouTube channel.

1. Experiment

When approaching your shiny new YouTube channel, it is important that you experiment with the videos you upload.  Try out lots of different styles of video, how to guides, examples of work, you at work or video tours dependent upon your industry. Use the first few months of your channel to discover what your viewers like and what they want to see then you can begin to attract more.

2. Why?

When uploading any or all of your videos, before you put them up, remember to consider why you have your channel. You should be constantly goal-orientated, and each video should reflect what your YouTube channel is there for. You could have it for any number of reasons, customer service, attract and build sales, or build a list of subscribers.

3. Time

Nothing is worse than a neglected social network so make sure you are going to have enough time to actually maintain the site. It’s unlikely you will a moment to spare, so often business out source this service or have interns to maintain their outlets. Mistakes on YouTube can be disastrous, so make sure that you know and trust those who are maintaining it.

4. Communication

This is where the time can really fly, to ensure that you get the most of your YouTube channel, you need someone to respond to the comments made, to make sure that your viewers feel involved. You also need someone to proactively comment on the videos of people who may need your services to encourage involvement and increase knowledge of your existence.

5. Content

Post any tv or video adverts you may have on your YouTube channel, including commercial material as this is great, but make sure that you post more than just that. Include videos behind the scenes of your business and “meet the staff” interviews, as people love hearing about the secrets behind business and how things really happen.

6. Best

Be the best. Make sure that all your content is top notch. What goes online and bares your logo should always be the best it can be, representing your business in the greatest way possible. Quality is key.

7. Search

All your content should be searchable and consider what your customers would search for to find your services. If you tag videos effectively and well, then you will be able to come up in results when others search for your competitors ensuring that you become the first and only choice within your industry.

8. Combine

All your networks should exist as branches of a larger being, so incorporate them all together by tweeting about videos, having links to your Facebook on your channel page and use your branding to ensure everyone knows about your networks and can access them easily.

9. Launch

Don’t just launch and leave! Make sure your channel grows and develops in time to ensure you get the most out of it that you possibly can. Viewers will enjoy new content, and be interested in watching the site develop and grow.

10. Google+

Share all your videos on Google+ as this makes the content rank higher in Google, meaning that not only will your circles see it, but also anyone typing the relevant search tearms.

11. Playlist

Make playlists for your content to increase the ease of use. Make a number of playlists and group similar videos together, so that your audience can easily find the video they want, and will automatically be surrounded by other relevant videos.

Here are some exquistely branded YouTube pages for some larger brands:

Have you got a branded YouTube page? Let us see your latest videos and your design, by commenting with a link below! We look forward to seeing them.

But wherever there is effective PR, there is the opportunity for bad, ineffective or poorly planned PR and I am writing this blog post to give you examples of truly terrible PR so you can learn from their catastrophic mistakes.

A company that went through substantial bad PR at the beginning of its time, is the money saving site Groupon. Initially hailed as a success and one of the fastest growing businesses ever, the coupon company even had offers from Google for an acquisition, but as the company seemed to be doing everything right, they were turned down. Substantial profits meant, when the advertising slot of the year (half time at the Super Bowl) came about, Groupon decided to invest, and air an advert to promote the company. A misguided attempt at controversial humour meant that their parody of the Tibetan plight against China was not well received. The advert was automatically deemed controversial and as discussions grew and opinions formed, the founder issued an apology. Opposed to traditional apologies used to get out of difficult PR situations that offer sincere and heartfelt sentiments, Groupon released a statement that was said by many to be a feeble attempt, that wasn’t actually an apology at all. On top of this Groupon’s accounts were criticised and said to have been embellished to show the company to be doing better financially that it actually was.

When Blackberry mobiles went down for almost a week last year, one would assume a company of that magnitude would have effective and thorough public relations strategies in place, but when the crisis hit RIM (the Blackberry operating system company) were far from prepared. Blackberry users were forced into a week long black out, unable to use social network facilities, receive their emails, BBMs and enjoy all the services that their hard earned cash paid for.

In an act of what seemed to be thoughtless self provision, throughout the debacle, Blackberry remained silent without commenting on what was happening or what its customers should expect. Messages mobile phone users received when attempting to use their phones were complex and uninterpretable for example “message delays were caused by a core switch failure in RIMs infrastructure”. Not only was the message given, unhelpful but also extremely infuriating due to its lack of content. Blackberry received particularly bad press from this and this morning reports claimed that 71% of Blackberry users would switch to an alternative smartphone service given their disasterous customer service.

It’s not just businesses that can fall foul of poor public relations, the Catholic Church was recently criticised for the way in which it handled child abuse claims. In 2010, a priest from a church in the UK was found to possess child pornography and other compromising pictures of children, including those in his parish. The church failed to report this matter for over a year, in what appeared to be an attempt to sweep the events under the rug , resulting in a costly law suit, and a multi-million pound pay out to victims and the promise for a change in the way these types of cases were dealt with. Although there is the promise of change, the damage to the Catholic Church is undeniable, and acts as yet another example of misconduct to reinforced the already tarnished reputation of the Catholic Church.

When looking through these examples of bad PR, there are certain mistake that are made in each culminating in a complete lack of control throughout the situation. Combined poor organisation and little to no communication resulted in what could have been a small problem sky rocketing into something, that even those unaffected by it can hear and complain about.

This is the controversial advert about Tibet and China, created by Groupon, to advertise their brand during the Super Bowl. What do you think?

As well as a momentous sporting occasion, the event usually plays host to other revelations (some more appropriate than others!) including, more flesh than expected from performing celebrities, and brands premiering new adverts. Last year the half time slot was given to VW who launched their popular Star Wars campaign with great investment, but substantial results.

In a change of proceedings, this year’s Super Bowl organisers have announced this week that the event is set to truly embrace the social media revolution. Organisers have created a social media command centre that will be part of the winning team, and an integral element, essential to the running of the event.

Understanding the undeniable power that social media currently holds, the command centre will act as an information hub, manned by 20 people for 15 hours per day throughout the competition.  The hub will score highly with fans of the Super Bowl, answering the questions of the public and providing information about the event and monitoring the conversations of the 150,000 visitors to the Super Bowl and those in the surrounding area.

The main networks under the social media hub’s scrutiny will be Facebook and Twitter, the staff hired for the event will be keeping an eye on mentions, replying to queries and addressing the most immediate concerns of all visitors to the event. This will be so much more than previous methods that just saw a stream of updates on results of matches, though I hope this feature won’t be forgotten.

Unlike lots of businesses, and indeed sporting events, SuperBowl has recognised and addressed the need for social media adaption. Due to it being a prime arena for conversation in the public eye, it is important that the efforts are put in to using it successfully.

Hired by Super Bowl, digital firm Raidious, have been drafted to sit on the bench and man the hub for the event and their CEO Taulbee Jackson, said: “Social media is just how people interact now. We felt it was critical to have some horsepower behind that aspect of the Super Bowl here, versus what you might have seen from other Super Bowls.”

The social media hub is forging a path for the interaction of social media within sporting events and due to its importance within the American calender, other such sporting milestones are more than likely to follow suit. Not only does the social media element allow the big wigs to see the great things that are being said, but it can be an area for internal development, addressing the needs of the public as and when they express it, and making changes that are necessary to keep visitors happy, and with 150,000 of them, they have their work cut out!

Unique and directed tweets from the centre’s team will go to confused fans looking for car parking spaces, give advice on the city’s best attractions and have stand by emergency information if anything should go wrong.

It won’t be easy to monitor all the hundreds of thousands of Super Bowl mentions throughout the event, but Radious has addressed this issue by adopting advanced search tools and analytics, that will use exact keywords and phrases to find relevant updates.

According to Mashable, researchers from a nearby University will be analysing the systems strengths and weaknesses including the possibilities social media opens up for customer relations.

On a slightly smaller scale, it is definitely worth adopting your own hashtag for an event you are holding, or monitoring mentions of your name during it, so that nothing comes as a surprise to you. You can use social media, to help you to address the needs of those at your events and ensure that you are always prepared for comments from attendants.

With the SuperBowl adopting social media to this extent, it is only a matter of time before other sporting events follow suit. I would be interested to see the networks involvement in a little event coming up for 2012, the London Olympics, although you may not have heard of that…

The idea behind SOPA is seemingly sound, and as you would imagine brought forward by the entertainment companies and music big wigs, stopping online piracy and the illegal downloading of film and music. But when you look further into what the act dictates, the consequences could be far-reaching and potentially damaging to more businesses than merely artists and record labels.

Corynne McSherry, intellectual property director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told The Guardian Newspaper that:
“These bills propose new powers for the government and for private actors to create, effectively, blacklists of sites … then force service providers to block access to those sites. That’s why we call these the censorship bills.”

What could this mean to you at home, or in your business?

With this in mind however, straight away a problem that crops up when you consider how far removed those affected by online piracy can be. How easily you can be closed down, whether you have done anything wrong or not. Your blog or website could be commented on by a user who has an infringing link on their site and then due to your connection with this link, your site could be shut down, despite the fact that you have done nothing wrong. As you can imagine, this is a MASSIVE problem for site such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube who could see their whole sites being closed down through the actions of one individual user.

Another problem is that once you have been blocked, it is your domain name that will not be able to be found, your IP address is still out there. This means that those committing the piracy acts will still be able to act, but you will be hindered massively when your not-so-tech-savvy customers won’t be able to find you.

Individual users can be punished for things that really aren’t that bad. An example of this would be that technically a record label could put you in prison for linking to a YouTube video that shows you singing along to a song. When you don’t have the rights to do this, you will pay the price. In the past the entertainment industry has even targeted individuals who have been in a similar situation, locking up those who have done one thing (which was probably funny), as opposed to those constantly uploading pirate material.

Not only are small businesses and individual users in for difficult times if this act passes, but also large corporations will be really restricted when it comes to the development of new technologies which are more than likely going to include elements of social sharing and online activity. This broad law banning all activities of this kind will make it very difficult to go forward in the technology industry, in a time when progression is something that we should encourage and not hinder at every turn.

It needs to be considered whom we need to back in situations such as these. It is obvious that the film and music industries bring millions into our economy, but this money only scratches the surface of the affect that the profits brought in by the technology industry and unfortunately this new ruling will limit their every move.

We’re not condoning the pirates in any way, copy write theft is a crime and should remain that way. We just need to consider the guidlines of this ruling, ensuring they are tighter and don’t inhibit our nations recovery, and ensure that the people who are breaking the law, are the ones who are punished.

This is the page that appeared when you visited Wikipedia on the day of the strike.

You’ve got a Smartphone, you’re up to date, and are moving your business forward but have you considered making the most of the mobile application market? If you aren’t using some of the millions of apps available for personal and business use, then your phone could definitely be working harder for you! Apps can help you when you’re in or out of the office, on the move or to help you organise your team, the ones you choose are up to you but this is Xposure’s list of the top 10 apps for small businesses.

1. Slideshare

Slideshare is an online, cloud-based app that allows you to access, create and share your slideshows whilst on the move, using your mobile phone. You will no longer be caught short when you’re out and need your notes. There has been a recent update that allows you to embed YouTube videos within your slideshow presentations, to help explain and illustrate your points, the app can help you to produce and show your work on the move.

2. Amazon Cloud Drive

I have been looking around the Internet for some time for free storage apps, and Amazon seems to come in at first place, for the amount of cloud based storage space for free. The nature of the app makes it particularly useful, with secure storage, unlimited access from any computer anywhere. Wherever you are (as long as there is wifi) you will be able to access your stored data helping you to ensure you never forget the documents you need again.

3. Dropbox

Dropbox, offers a similar service to Amazon Cloud Drive, but despite the lesser space available, a unique element of the apps is its ability to sync directly to your PC or Laptop. This means that when you load information into your Dropbox, you can set it to connect your Dropbox, with those whom you work with and automatically upload the same information to their computer.

4. Workflowy

If you have ever found yourself with a messy desk, lots of information, that you aren’t sure what to do with, then Workflowy is a great app for you, assisting you with your organisation. The app allows you to record all your thoughts in one place, categories them, and also review and order them easily. It can help you organize personal to-dos, collaborate on large team projects, take notes, write research papers, keep a journal, plan a wedding, and much more.

5. Skype

Skype, if you don’t already have it, make sure that you download it now! You can have individual phone calls using your Internet connections, or group meetings, which can make satellite offices or freelance work a really viable option.

6. Teamly

This app helps you to sort out your to-do list once and for all, giving you 5 priorities per week. You can go forward or back in time to see what you’ve accomplished and to understand the milestones that are coming up. You can easily re-order your priorities to a specific date.

7. Daylite Touch

Daylite Touch is a productivity manager for the iphone and ipad, to help you manage your business and your team. The app is useful for you to share your updates with your team, keeping everyone on the same page and to help you stay on track with developments and deliver results on time, every time.

8. Shoeboxed

Keeping track of expenses can be a difficult task, but Shoeboxed is a great app to help you keep all your expenses in one area and generate intensive expense reports. By snapping pictures of your receipts and invoices, Shoeboxed enters the date, total, payment type, store and category, then creates and sends expense reports from your iphone/ipad.

9. Google Docs

Google Docs have released an app, which gives you the opportunity to create, edit, upload and share your documents on the move. Designed primarily for the Android market, you can make quick amendments to spreadsheets, view your PDFs, amend presentations and upload files converting them to Google Docs format. You can even take a photo of printed text and convert it to a Google Docs document!

10. Toodledo

Toodledo is a task manager for the iphone and ipad, made specifically to help you to organise your to do list, notes, and to help you to be more productive. Toodledo gives you the ability to track your notes by priority, start date, due date, time, length or status.

These are the best apps for us, but what have you found invaluable to your business? Which apps can’t you live without? Let us know what you think about apps for businesses.

After a particularly trying year for a lot of us, we were happy to embrace 2012 for all its mystery and possibilities and wave goodbye to 2011.

For some time now we have been working on our new website, utilizing the latest technologies, constantly tweaking and fine tuning, ready for January 2012 and the big launch.

Our enthusiastic web expert Thomas (see the home page) suggested using parallax to showcase our portfolio of work. A relatively new technique for web design used by the businesses such as Nike and Campaign Monitor, Parallax is a difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along different lines of sight. The Parallax scrolling web design is a technique that uses layered images that move around the website at different speeds/perspectives creating the illusion of a 3D image. We saw what you could achieve with Parallax and knew this is what we wanted for our site.

Another key feature you won’t fail to notice about our new website is us! (The models on the home page…) Hello! Unlike many businesses, we want you to know us. Meet the real people behind the work we do, see what we get up to on a day-to-day basis, and our opinions on topical news and the work we do. If you look closely enough, you may notice we enjoy the occasional fancy dress day, especially when there is an event coming up! Watch out London Olympics, you’ve got a new team coming.

We see websites as living organisms that grow in time, as businesses develop and change. Our website will be constantly updated and developed, so watch out for exciting changes over the years.

Our new look blog library showcases our back catalogue of fantastic and useful blog posts about anything from marketing, web design, social media and branding. Each individually published to maintain the Xposure brand.

We have worked hard to make sure that your time on our site is enjoyable and easy, and we hope you like it. Let us know what you think, and what you like most about it? (Other than the beautiful pictures of our team, of course!)

No one knows what the future holds, but we’re making an educated guess at what lies in store for anyone attempting to embark upon a social media marketing strategy in the new year.

From adapting for new media technologies and making websites mobile-friendly, to the collision of personal and professional lives, as social media means we have all our secrets on show, the changes in 2012 will be dramatic, exciting and probably a little scary.

Give our Prezi a watch to see what we have predicted, and let us know if you agree.

As we’re hurtling towards the end of yet another year, we are reflecting in the office about what a year 2011 has been.

A year of massive events, economic disasters, natural chaos and celebrity deaths, by any account 2011 has certainly been turbulent.

From distressing news of earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, the death of Steve Jobs, the world being rid of Osama Bin Laden and Gadhafi, to heart warming tales of love from our own monarchy, or the journey of Para-Olympians to London 2012, and the down right strange stories of tiger-blood drinking American TV stars, the year has been far from uneventful.

Mixed in with all this madness, has been developments within advertising, with brands investing more money and time than ever before into Internet ventures for alternative outlets. Social media undergone has drastic changes this year from the entrance of Google+ into the game, and the introduction of LinkedIn company pages opening up numerous possibilities for brave marketers of B2C companies and B2B businesses.

Here at Xposure, we thought we would embrace the time of year for countdown lists, and ‘best of the year’ tv shows and have looked through the internet whilst trawling through television channels to bring you Xposure’s top 9 adverts of 2011.

We have been well and truly spoilt this year with an abundance of adverts from the best (all in Xposure’s list) to the truly terrible (the Jarvis Cocker Eurostar advert!). Keep reading to see Xposure’s best advert of the year.

9. In at number nine, which is no mean feat, as we are a particularly discerning bunch, is the Old Spice men Isiah and Fabio.

Following some controversial news about the previous Old Spice man Isiah, Fabio was released to the public and to our screens by agency Wieden & Kennedy in July. Viewed by 26.3 million, Old Spice and their chosen agency, brilliant cracked the viral code, and used their new man to battle the previous Old Spice representative in over 200 short videos. They also utilised social media to allow Fabio to respond directly to viewer’s comments and tweets.

8. Number 8 is a personal favourite of mine, and one of the few milk adverts that I’ve seen without cows!

Cravendale also hired Wieden & Kennedy to create a truly terrifying but amazingly unique campaign, centering on the scary concept of cats growing opposable thumbs. The Aristocats crossed, with quite an intimidating gang, was hugely popular and is set to see a sequel next year with a campaign  that fully utilizes the possibilities open to Cravendale through Facebook and Twitter.

7. Heading down the list we’ve got the Yeo-Valley advert produced by BBH.

Spending a cool £5million on the potentially risky campaign, which took over a full advert break during the most expensive time for television advertising; the X Factor on Saturday night! Using a group of young attractive farmers in a Take That style boy band, dancing around haystacks was a success which is guarantees to get you smiling each time, you see it.

6. Half way through the list and we’ve got Kelloggs, who worked with social media to create their “Share your breakfast” Campaign.

Encouraging the nation to share their breakfast, by offering 1 million free breakfasts for children in need in America throughout July, viewers of the advert were encouraged to send in photos of their bowls of Rice Crispies and other Kelloggs classics.

5. At number 5 we have one of the first advertising campaigns, brave enough to embrace the horror genre, scaring us into remembering their fantastic offers!

Phones 4 U and their agency Adam & Eve came under initial criticism for their horror-vertising campaign. Complaints came in, deeming the advert too scary for day-time TV, but following OFCOM investigations they were dismissed and the advert became a big success. Seen as boundary pushing, the advert became a mocking comment on brands pushing products so hard that they can seem borderline threatening!

4. I have to admit that I am slightly biased on this one due to a small obsession of mine.

At number four is the VW and Star Wars advert: The Force. Deutsch created a small child Darth Vader attempting to harness the power of the force on various everyday objects including his dog and the family car. Prior to the television premier during the Super bowl, the advert was released on the internet, racking up an impressive 14 million views leaving a buzz meaning that the massive investment of the Super bowl premier paid off.

3. TBWA London and Muller launched their £20million advert with the slogan “Wünderful Stuff”.

The advert which aired during the X Factor, used an abundance of well known kids TV characters from Yogi Bear to the Mr Men who stirred a little something wonderful, into the mundane. Moving far from the previous campaign, of children on swings and voice-overs from aging celebs, the advert literally represents the enjoyment of stirring in your fruit or crunch into the plain yoghurt on the other side of your Muller Corner!

2. Just beaten to the top spot is T Mobile’s advert playing on the Royal Wedding hysteria of April 2011.

One of the many brands to affiliate themselves with the Royal Wedding, Saatchi + Saatchi cemented T Mobile in the viewers minds by creating a spoof of an original YouTube upload called “JK Wedding Dance”. The original video, that was a YouTube sensation sparked off the wedding version, which launched in April and saw 28.4 million views.

1.  At number one is an advert that never fails to make me well up, created for Google Chrome.

With the strapline “The web is what you make of it”, the premise of the advert is a father sending his new born daughter messages to an email address he has set up for her, throughout her life. A 21^st century baby book shows the father uploading touching videos from milestones in his daughters life and putting them with personal messages.

Clearly a great year for advertisements, 2011 has even more great branding examples, but these are our favourites. Agree with us? If not, show us the adverts that have made the breaks in your favourite shows a little bit more bearable…

Continuing our successful social media statistics analysis, we conducted our latest statistic update in May, but eight months later, it is time for another round up giving you all the statistics you need for who uses which social media, where they go and when they do it. There is already one massive change from the previous post in the form of the newest social network Google+, so we’ll look how it ranks against the other most popular social networking outlets.

A report issued by the BBC this week stated that western businesses are lagging behind on Eastern companies, when it comes to social media usage within firms, leading to the result that firms in India, China and Brazil are 20-30% more likely to use social media within their business as opposed to developed countries such as the UK or America. For the full article click here

With facts in mind, lets consider the statistics for users of the most popular social media sites available on the internet.

Facebook

Over the past eight months there has been a slow but steady increase in the visitors and the amount of users accessing the Facebook website each day. These past eight months have seen a general increase in most areas of Facebook, cementing itself as one of the social networking heavy weights.

Twitter

Generally, Twitter has levelled on its daily users, but there is still a steady increase in unique visitors and it’s reach. Still one of the most popular social networks available, Twitter has extended from merely an online social outlet, to hashtags being displayed in newspapers, on the radio and on television.

LinkedIn

Still inhabited by the most influential individuals within business and there is a general slight increase of the individual unque visitors every day.

Myspace

Rupert Murdoch will be annoyed at his catastrophic mistake purchase which is dramatically decreasing in popularity, unique visitors are leaving the millions and entering the thousands. It may even need to be demoted from our social media statistics list!

Flickr

The photo sharing website, has consistently kept a similar amount of unique visitors each day with a small decline towards July 2011.

Digg

Digg has seen a substantial decline in interest and the unique daily visits, this said it is still in the hundred thousands, so is relevant still. With declines such as these, will we still see Digg this time next year?

Bebo

In keeping with the report for the last few years, Bebos daily visitor ratings have been in a definite decline, failing to reach the hundred thousands this year, means that Bebo is no longer considered a major player in the social networking industry.

Lastfm

Despite the recent change in features to Spotify, which I believed would have a direct affect on the Lastfm listnership figures, the daily unique user count is still in gradual decline. With Facebook and Spotify combining together soon through applications and profile adaptions, this is set to only further decrease.

Google+

Using Google Ad planner to retrieve these statistics, I assumed that Google+ would be easy to analyse, but unfortunately due to it still being in its early stages, the statistics were not available. To avoid disappointment, however, here are some facts about Google+ that you may be news to you.

• Google+ has recorded the highest traffic in terms of total US visits for the week of Nov 12th 2011.
• The week ending Nov 12th 2011 received nealy 7 million total US visits.
• This was a 25% increase on the previous month.
• Referral to Google+ from other Google products increased significantly.
• 7 out of 10 referral traffic has come from Google products (google search, gmail, youtube, maps, docs, profiles, news and picasa web albums).
• Returning visitors to Google+ has increased 18% in Nov 2011 vs Oct 2011.
• The week begininng 14th of November 74% of traffic to Google+ was from active users.