The last 15 days in Social Media
I think it is safe to say that the last 15 days have been by far the most active and interesting in the world of social media – at least since Iran took it over a few weeks ago… We have seen redesigns, major outages and digital attacks, buyouts, and proposed new upgrades. While many of the industry dailies, weeklies and even big shots like CNN & FOX have been covering this stuff – here is a nice little snapshot to boil it all down from a marketer’s perspective:
- Twitter Homepage Redesign (7/28):
Twitter officially revamped its homepage to focus on what it is known for – search. It appears they have finally realized that they own what is happening NOW on the web, the next step is finding a way to turn that into a viable monetization strategy. The rest of the site’s pages still retain the original design (which doesn’t quite match) – but I am sure that will change soon as well. Ultimately, they just need to buy HootSuite (@HootSuite) and be done with it, IMO.
- Google Launches Facebook Page (7/31): This is HUGE! This is like Zeus coming to Cupid for dating advice… the crowned king of Web 2.0 bows down and sets up a fan page on the Prince’s social network. Aside from the fun analogies – their fan page and newsfeed are quite interesting and keep you up to date with the inner-workings of Google on a daily basis.
- Attacks on Social Media (8/6-8/10): If this is the first time hearing about the massive attack and outage that Twitter, Facebook and LiveJournal experienced last week, please keep your day job. The attack allegedly originated overseas as an attempt to take down a Georgian blogger’s website and supposedly spilled over onto his social media accounts and subsequently shut the whole thing down for hours with after-effects still being felt. This speaks volumes to the inter-connectivity of all these sites and the security and integrity concerns it poses… I predict this will not be the last time something like this happens…
- New Facebook Policies & TOS: Over the last couple weeks Facebook has been cracking down – With the uber-success of the new fan pages, they are doing their best to find ways to be a place for all brands, but not cannibalize their own potential revenue streams. If you manage ay branded pages make sure you do not manage multiple ad campaigns from one personal account, do not run contests without Facebook approval, and no sponsored status updates – you have to earn your endorsements the old fashioned way…
- FaceFeed – The Acquisition (8/10):
Earlier this week Facebook nabbed up the more Twitter-like FriendFeed for an estimated $50 Million in cash and stock. Founders of FriendFeed said that discussions had been going on since they launched, but it took over 2 years to get the nice pay-day. Meanwhile FriendFeed users are a bit peeved, concerned that their social network of choice will simply be absorbed into Facebook, which is likely. Either way, this is a testament to the sheer influence and competition in the social space – it’s not going anywhere, get used to it.
- New Facebook Tools and Plans: In addition to the policy updates, Facebook has launched (or teased about launching) a number of new platform features. As of late, developers can now tap into the Open Stream API which enables developers to pull out their status updates in real time (very Twitterish) as well as the Inbox API with which you can pull messages out from your fB mailbox (albeit one-way, so no outgoing spam blasts). There is also talk of a Live Search product coming out soon, as well as the most recent news of the Facebook Lite testing going on as we speak. Again, very Twitterish…
- LinkedIn hits 45 Million Users (8/12): You think social media is just about friends, pictures, videos and FarmVille? Guess again – Linked in just hit 45,000,000 users. That combined with their recent self-serve advertising and polling features makes this a gigantic, yet still niche platform. Look for much more opportunity coming from these guys soon…
The fact of the matter is that this is a testament to the modern world of digital media… We always tell our clients – if we give you this presentation again in 30-days it is likely going to be completely different! Social media changes by-the-minute and if you aren’t investing some time or money into it at this point – you are going to spend a lot more of both in the coming months or years trying to catch-up. Hopefully, this post took care of the last 15-days – the next 15 are up to you.
Cheers!
-Kevin Planovsky
twitter.com/kplanovsky
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