SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS: Is It Time For Companies To Cut Back On Social Media?

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It's Time To Cut Back On Social Media (Harvard Business Review)
It has become increasingly clear that with the proliferation of new platforms, no person or company can become the master of them all. Nor should they. The harder decision is figuring out which ones you should prioritize, and which ones you should scrap. Establishing ROI has always been the holy grail of social media. We may still have a ways to go before we can quantify its objective, dollars-and-cents impact. But even anecdotally, you probably have some good operating theories. For instance, if you target women, Pinterest is a great bet; if it's males, Google+ is currently their stomping ground. And blogging is the best way to demonstrate true content mastery and thought leadership. It's all about pruning and focusing on the platforms that have the most impact.

What Are Your Employees Saying On Social Media? (Social Media Today)
There have been numerous cases of employees commenting on undesirable workplace culture. Professionals understand that there are limitations, but they are also tempted by the freedom of social media. If companies truly wish to make social media work for them, they’ve got to start internally, and educate employees on what their role should be in building credibility and enforcing guidelines of what people outside the company should know, and what should be kept locked inside the office’s shining treasure chest of organizational secrets.

Google+ Overtakes Twitter, Heads For Facebook (Trendstream via Forbes)
U.K. market research firm Trendstream updated its Global Web Index this week, showing that Google+ is now the second-largest social network in terms of active users. YouTube, included for the first time in the index, is now third. The report estimates Facebook‘s active users in December 2012 at 693 million, compared to 343 million for Google+.

There is obviously significant overlap between Google+ and YouTube in terms of users, so those two numbers cannot merely be added up for a total. But if all active YouTube users become active Google+ users, it would likely add a significant amount to those 343 million.

Women Use Social Media To Boost Influence At The World Economic Forum (KPMG)
Data from KPMG shows that women delegates are playing an increasingly prominent role in the public discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF). While only about 17 percent of WEF delegates in Davos are women, they have accounted for more than a third of Davos delegate social media activity. Analysis of delegates' Twitter activity shows that on day one of the Davos meeting, delegates sent 2,376 tweets, of which 784 were from female attendees. KPMG's research also highlighted the growing involvement of the general public in the online debate, with a 31 percent increase in retweets, showing greater engagement with the discussions emanating from Davos.

SV Angel Buys $30 Million Of Pinterest In Secondary Sale (TechCrunch)
Last week, an SEC filing showed a new $30 million raise by SV Angel, for a fund called SV Angel-III Growth P. This $30 million is a Special Purpose Vehicle for SV Angel, specifically reserved to buy secondary shares in Pinterest.TechCrunch confirmed with SV Angel co-founder David Lee that this is indeed the case. The $30 million secondary investment, which closed last year, was at the same $1.5 billion valuation at which Rakuten made its investment in Pinterest last year. Most of the $30 million will go towards liquidity of early outside investors, and amounts to roughly 2 percent of the startup at the current valuation.

Facebook Shows Large Influence On Social TV (eMarketer)
According to a September 2012 survey of U.S. Internet users conducted by Nielsen for the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), people still most often talk about TV shows while in the same room, face-to-face, or over the phone.

Among online channels, Facebook had the greatest influence on getting people to watch a show— 46 percent said they picked up a show as a result of the social network. That was followed by Twitter (14 percent), the websites of TV shows (9 percent) and then forums or discussion boards (8 percent).

TV watchers also showed a predilection for talking about shows— either in person, online or over the phone— after the show aired. About seven in 10 respondents talked about a show while it was on-air, while three-quarters did so right after its conclusion. The day after a show was broadcast, the percentage of people chatting about a show ramped up to 83 percent.

Here Are The 10 Social Tools You Need (HR Magazine)
Workplace applications of collaborative social tools are becoming far more explicit and, coupled with the rise in more enterprise-oriented platforms, are providing companies with an opportunity to add value. Here are the top ten:

1. Crowdsourcing
2. Social learning
3. Enterprise social networks
4. Microblogging
5. Social performance management
6. Online groups / Communities of interest
7. Mobile applications
8. Online presentation sharing
9. New-generation video conferencing
10. Online task management

Are you fed up of the social yet? Hopefully not, because the trend for putting the word social in front of everything shows no sign of abating.

Brands Who Ignore Their Fans (socialbakers)
In today’s social media world, most brands are aware that it’s as important to respond to their customers online, as it is offline. In terms of the mobile phone manufacturer industry, here are some examples of brands that have a tremendous presence on Facebook but could handle their customer relations much better:

• LG Mobile proved to be the least socially devoted, earning a fan base of over 1 million with a zero percent response rate.
• Blackberry has nearly 12 million Facebook fans, however only earned a 1.46 percent response rate, answering 73 questions out of the over 5,000 posted.
• Nokia earned a 4.36 percent response rate.
• HTC earned an 24.94 percent response rate, with a a fan base of 2.5 million.

Social media, by definition, is a natural environment for fans (customers) to interact. Not responding to customers is as arrogant as hanging up the phone on them.

The Impact Of Twitter On 5 Major Brands (Wishpond via MediaBistro)
Social media has changed the retail business. This infographic takes a closer look at the impact of Twitter on five major brands– LG, Virgin America, Cadbury, Cirque Du Soleil and Porsche:

Thanks to platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, retail brands of all shapes and sizes can build highly engaged audiences that can help them raise awareness and drive sales.