Is Facebook's Commercialization Driving Users Away?
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As Facebook rolls out a steady stream of features designed to improve monetization, at least one financial analyst is arguing that the social network has begun to drive its users away. In a series of blog posts, Richard Greenfield, of BTIG, a firm that services institutional investors, has argued that the network is cluttering its News Feed. Facebook has introduced Sponsored Posts in its mobile apps and — on its desktop website — display ads without social context. It has also allowed data brokers into its walled garden, although it says it won’t share its user data with them. Most recently, it agreed to acquire Microsoft’s ad server, Atlas, in a move that experts said signaled the company’s intention to advertise across the Web. Read >>
Twitter Is No Longer The Most Enchanting Social Platform (Huffington Post)
In a recent interview, bestselling author, investor and marketing extraordinaire Guy Kawasaki was asked, "In your book Enchantment you said Twitter was the most enchanting social platform. Do you still believe Twitter is the most enchanting social tool?" And his reply, "I must say that I have changed my mind, Google plus is the most enchanting tool. I love the Twitter integration, it affects your search results, YouTube sharing, it affects things ... you can't even conceive of." And there you have it. Read >>
Did you know that shoppers exposed to brand tweets are more likely to visit brand sites? They’re also more likely to consider that brand when they’re ready to buy and they’re also more likely to make a purchase. That’s all according to a study recently performed by Twitter and Compete. Around 31 percent of consumer technology shoppers exposed to brand Tweets visited product pages followed by an "add to cart" action. This was 64 percent higher than the proportion of average Internet users who visited product/brand sites and went on to add something to their shopping carts on-site (19 percent). Read >>
Why Facebook Might Rip Off Twitter's Most #Annoying Feature (WSJ via Slate)
The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook is "working on incorporating the hashtag" into its service. Facebook has not confirmed the report. If so, a lot of people are going to come out and call Facebook stupid and out-of-touch. No one likes hashtags, right? But where you see hashtags, Facebook sees dollar signs. Like so many recent Facebook experiments and site changes, the hashtag idea sounds clunky when you think about it from the user's perspective, but rather ingenious when you consider it from a business perspective. When you write a Facebook post today, it’s likely to contain all sorts of information that could be useful to the site, but it’s liable to be difficult for even a finely honed algorithm to categorize. Read >>
Facebook Acquires Hot Studio Design Team (Inside Facebook)
Facebook announced that it has acquired Hot Studio, a design agency based in San Francisco and New York, to build new tools for brands and businesses on the social network. According to LinkedIn, Hot Studio has 114 employees. Hot Studio developer Bill Fisher said on Twitter that this is the largest talent acquisition Facebook has ever made. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hot Studio had been working with the social network on a few projects over the past few months, and Facebook says it recognized a fit between the two companies. Read >>
Tips For Building A Strong Facebook Brand Page (Bit Rebels)
The business side of Facebook boomed with Facebook brand pages. This serves as the go-to social marketing move for every brand out there, no matter how big or small.
Here are tips for building a strong brand:
- Build a strong Facebook page
- Connect to people using Facebook Ads
- Engage your audience through quality contact
- Use your page to influence friends of your fans
Social media is the new generation of advertising which creates data in real time. Be sure you're doing it well. Read >>
Social Media Is An Administrative Cost (BHIVE)
Are you listening CFOs? Social media is not an advertising or marketing expense, it is an administrative cost. I repeat. It is an ongoing administrative cost, not an on-and-off advertising expense. At some point some companies will need to learn how to expense social media accordingly. In a B2B scenario, if you want to connect with your future clients, it's time to pick up the phone or in this case login to Twitter and start chatting. The difference is, it's not a cold call. To coin a phrase, it's a cold tweet — 140 characters at a time. Read >>