Weekly Social Media Update
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