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Weekly Social Media Update

Posted by Sinead Doyle October 25th, 2010

YouTube Leanback

Following last week’s discussion on the future of television, I was pointed towards YouTube Leanback: a streamlined interface designed to facilitate content discovery and easy browsing. Like the new BBC iPlayer, it also allows you to personalize your account and get recommendations from your friends. Though it has been in beta since May, it has only recently become available to all users. Take a look.

eConsultancy on Facebook Pages

A new article from eConsultancy on interacting with Facebook fans: 27% of those who unsubscribed from a brand’s Facebook Page did so because “information was published too frequently.” Only 7% unsubscribed because “information was not published frequently enough.” Proof that you can overshare.

Tags: bbc, eConsultancy, Facebook, future of television, iplayer, leanback, Social Media, YouTube

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Weekly Social Media Update

Posted by Sinead Doyle October 4th, 2010

Twitter’s Evolving Ad Platform

Twitter’s sales director, Amanda Levy, has been in the UK trying to drum up excitement around their new ad platform, expected to launch in the UK next year. Sky, Sony and Vodafone are said to be among those considering the proposition. At the same time, Twitter is launching a new Promoted Accounts service to add to the Promoted Tweets currently on offer. Meanwhile, promotional Twitter stream Earlybird has quietly been axed. There are also rumours of a Twitter analytics dashboard in beta testing, a tool evidently designed to appeal to mass market advertisers: no one yet knows if it will be open to all, or exclusive to business accounts.

Social Networks in the Mainstream News

A couple of recent articles about social networks in the Economist and on the BBC. The BBC article reads a little like an extended opportunity for product placement, name-dropping various monitoring companies: Meltwater, Attensity, Radian6, Alterian and the SAS Institute. The Economist article focuses more on real-world networks, influencer identification and predictive analysis. Interesting stuff.

Play Snake on YouTube

Ok, I’m a little behind on this one, but it’s just too good not to share: you can play Snake on YouTube by pressing the arrow keys on your keyboard while a video is playing or paused. Possibly even more brilliant than the Google homepage Pacman. Watch the video to find out how. (Thanks to Paul Reynolds for decreasing my productivity this week.)

Breast Cancer Awareness

If you see some slightly unusual status updates from your female Facebook friends, they’re probably taking part in a game for Breast Cancer Awareness month. The last game involved talking about the colour of your bra, this year’s game is about where you put your handbag when you get home: eg “I like it on the kitchen counter.” *blushes* No one’s quite sure who’s behind these campaigns, and they don’t seem to be endorsed by the official Breast Cancer Awareness Facebook page: let’s see if this one gets noticed. (Thanks to Clara for forwarding me the Facebook message.)

Tags: ad platform, Alterian, Amanda Levy, Attensity, bbc, Breast Cancer Awareness, change your status, Earlybird, Economist, Facebook status, Google, LBi, Meltwater, October, Promoted Accounts, Promoted Tweets, Radian6, SAS Institute, snake, Social Media, status update game, twitter, Twitter Analytics, YouTube

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Weekly Social Media Update

Posted by Sinead Doyle September 6th, 2010

Ping – iTunes Social Network

Last week Apple launched Ping, their iTunes-based social network. Described as “Facebook meets Twitter meets iTunes”, the new service will allow people to follow artists and friends (like Twitter), create a profile that displays their musical tastes (like Last.fm and Spotify), and a news stream showing what your friends are listening to (like Blip.fm, mFlow and various other streaming services).

It has all been done before, but not necessarily all in the same place: with 160 million iTunes users, it stands a fighting chance of overtaking other social music networks. One million users signed up in the first 48 hours, but if it’s true that one-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping, that still leaves two-thirds who didn’t bother. Take a look at the video tutorial here, give it a try, and see what you think.

Lady Gaga on Ping

Social iPlayer

The new, socially connected iPlayer has finally emerged after months of beta testing. New features include the ability to personalize your viewing experience by connecting with Facebook and Twitter,as well as recommending and commenting on your favourite programmes.

Facebook Credits Gift Cards

Gift cards loaded with Facebook Credits are now available at US retail giant Target. The virtual currency allows users to purchase goods within Facebook’s plethora of social games and applications. The virtual goods market is expected to reach $1.6 billion in the US alone this year, with $835 million coming from social games alone (figures from Inside Facebook). If this launch proves successful, expect to see similar partnerships in the UK soon.

Facebook Credits Gift Card

Draw and Fold Over

The Campaign for Drawing is gearing up for October’s Big Draw with a fun “Draw and Fold Over” game. Simply start a digital drawing on the microsite, then pass it on for your friends to complete via Facebook and Twitter. Thanks to our Edinburgh friends @davelaw00 and @lalrinn for brightening my Monday with this – see if you can make one better than ours!

Draw and Fold Over

Tags: bbc, Big Draw, Blip.fm, Campaign for Drawing, Draw and Fold Over, Facebook, Facebook Credits, gift cards, iplayer, iTunes, Lady Gaga, Last FM, Mflow, Ping, social iPlayer, Social Media, social networks, Spotify, target, twitter, virtual currency

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Weekly Social Media Update

Posted by Sinead Doyle June 4th, 2010

BBC iPlayer Gets Social

The new iPlayer Beta, set to go live at the end of June, will add social features to the BBC’s popular streaming service. Registered users will be able to tie in their Twitter, Facebook and Messenger profiles, to share what they’re watching across their social graph. Good news!

“You Both Follow” on Twitter

In the same week as Twitter passed the 15 billion tweet mark, another new feature is being rolled out. When viewing any user’s profile, you will now see a list of people you both follow – a handy way of seeing if you have any friends in common with a potential contact. Thanks to Matt Pike for spotting this story!

How do you say Sysomos?

This social media monitoring system doesn’t have the easiest name to pronounce, so the good people at Sysomos went out and filmed a bunch of people giving it a go. Take a look.

@BPglobalPR Unmasked

One of the most entertaining satirical Twitter feeds around, @BPglobalPR has been amusing us for weeks now with its alternative view on the BP oil spill. “Leroy Stick” has some forceful views on the meaning of corporate social responsibility: “FORGET YOUR BRAND… You know the best way to get the public to respect your brand? Have a respectable brand… This isn’t just your disaster, this is a human tragedy.” Well said.

Tags: bbc, bp global pr, bp oil spill, bpglobalpr, Facebook, iplayer, iplayer beta, leroy stick, messenger, satire, social features, social graph, Social Media, social media monitoring, sysomos, twitter, you both follow

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