Intelligentonline's Blog

Webtrends Launches Analytics for Facebook Marketers

intelligentonline — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:53:57 +0000

Webtrends, a company that offers marketers detailed web analytics, has rolled out new measurement capabilities for Facebook, including the ability to view Facebook data alongside data for other channels.

Tools like this are useful because Facebook’s own platform for this, Facebook Insights, runs three days behind, doesn’t measure custom tabs or apps, and doesn’t integrate with analytics for other digital marketing channels.

The tools work inside Facebook to provide detailed analytics data about applications, custom tabs, brand pages, contests and advertisements, among other things. This wasn’t easy to achieve because most of Facebook (Fan Pages included) doesn’t allow JavaScript, but Webtrends developed a custom API to get around that. Third-party applications built on the Facebook platform are easier because JavaScript is permitted.

The special features here are the ones related to comparing data between Facebook and other digital channels. For example, you can see how much traffic is being driven to your Facebook Fan Pages by Twitter updates, or you can overlay Facebook Fan Page activity with that on corporate blog posts.

http://mashable.com/2010/02/25/webtrends-facebook-analytics/

HOW TO: Deal With Negative Feedback in Social Media

intelligentonline — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:07:31 +0000

We often say that social media is a conversation, and what we mean by that is unlike traditional broadcast and print mediums, which are often one-directional, social media is very much a two-way channel. Not only can businesses communicate with their customers, but their customers can communicate with them and with each other, as well. By and large, this type of communication is a good thing — businesses can form more personal relationships with customers and customers can become part of a community around the brands and businesses they want to support.

However, when you open the conversation up to anyone, you can also potentially invite negative criticism that you need to be prepared to deal with. Here’s a quick guide to dealing with negative feedback on social media.

http://mashable.com/2010/02/21/deal-with-negative-feedback/

Google takes on Facebook and Twitter with Buzz service

intelligentonline — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:06:58 +0000

Google is taking on Facebook and Twitter by launching Google Buzz, a way to share status updates, photos and web links inside its email service Gmail.

The new service will be accessible on mobile phones and the company said it would also be launching a version of Buzz for companies to use as a communications tool.

Google is trying not to be left behind by the likes of Facebook, which now has more than 400 million users worldwide. Google’s own social network, Orkut, has only gained significant numbers of users in Brazil.

The company said Buzz was a way of cutting through the “too much information” of social networking, allowing users to control what and how they share updates easily and simply.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article7021156.ece

Twitter Is Still Growing Rapidly [STATS]

intelligentonline — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:49:35 +0000

Maybe Twitter doesn’t have a growth problem after all. According to new stats out today from Royal Pingdom, Twitter saw an all-time high of more than 1.2 billion tweets in January. Perhaps this is what CEO Evan Williams meant last month when he said that the site was hitting records “across all the metrics that matter.”

Diving a bit deeper into the numbers, Royal Pingdom reports that tweet volume grew by 16x from January ’09 to January ’10. Over the past three months, tweet volume has grown steadily at around 17 percent. In other words, if tweet volume is the metric that matters, Twitter is still growing at a very healthy clip.

Questions about Twitter’s growth have stemmed from other publicly available analytics data that shows the site is seeing a flat-to-down number of unique visitors hit its website each month. That data though, as has often been pointed out, doesn’t take into account those that use Twitter through third-party apps, both on the desktop and via mobile devices.

In any event, here’s what the tweet growth looks like:

http://mashable.com/2010/02/10/twitter-tweet-volume/

Haiti, iPad and Obama: The Top 10 Twitter Trends Last Week

intelligentonline — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:33:24 +0000

Out of all the social media tools out there, the one that people go to in order to figure out what’s hot on the web has to be Twitter. With millions of tweets crossing its servers and constantly updated trending topics, it’s easy to find out what’s happening right now.

We’re taking it a step further with a new series, Top Twitter Topics, a weekly recap of what people were buzzing about in the Twitterverse. Thanks to What The Trend, we know what events captured our collective attention.

Here are some highlights from last week’s list:

- Haiti, relief efforts and raising money to help

- Unsurprisingly, the number two topic of discussion was the iPad, along with discussion about the keynote and jokes about the product’s name.

- Obama’s State of the Union ranks in at number three.

What Will Be Popular This Week??

- The iPad: What, you think people won’t be buzzing about Apple’s new device a week from now?

- The Grammys: I was a week off on last week’s prediction; now the buzz is starting to build.

- Super Bowl: The big game is coming

- Haiti: The people of the island nation still need our help.

- Justin Bieber: The 15-year0old singing phenomenon was discovered on YouTube, and his fans are as passionate as Twilight or Jonas Brothers fans. Be very afraid.

http://mashable.com/2010/01/30/top-twitter-topics-jan-30/

4 Myths About Social Media and Business

intelligentonline — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:54:31 +0000

25% of small business owners said they plan to spend more on social networking in 2010, according to the Ad-ology Small Business Marketing Forecast.

Facebook ranked as the most beneficial social network for small businesses, followed by LinkedIn and Twitter, according to the November 2009 report. The 1,100 small business owners surveyed said the biggest benefits of social networking were the abilities to generate leads, keep up with their industry, and monitor the online conversation about their business.

But despite the enormous growth of business presences on social networking sites, there are still many misconceptions about how best to use social media. To help cut through the hype, here are a few social media myths dispelled.

Small Businesses Must be on Social Media
Set It and Forget It
Word of Mouth Presence Isn’t There
Social Media is Only for Broadcasting Messages

http://mashable.com/2010/01/26/myths-social-media-business/

Twitter Local Trends Now Live For All

intelligentonline — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:48:42 +0000

Twitter began a rollout of a new Local Trends feature last week, and now the company reports Local Trends is live to all.

Once you set your location, Local Trends allows you to see what conversational trends are popular nearby. The cities list is still limited for now, but the selection area indicates Twitter is “working on it” to expand the number of supported localities.

Changing your location immediately updates the list of trending topics in the right-hand sidebar of your Twitter.com home display.

http://mashable.com/2010/01/26/twitter-local-trends-now-live-for-all/

Alan Rusbridger rules out pay walls at the Guardian

intelligentonline — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:06:05 +0000

Editor of the Guardian Alan Rusbridger expressed optimism about the future of the newspaper on Friday, despite reported losses of up to £100,000 per day late last year.

Speaking at this year’s second Coventry Coversation talk, run by the Coventry University journalism department, Rusbridger said that despite significant losses the Guardian had no plans to put up pay walls.

Discussing Rupert Murdoch’s plans to charge for News International’s online content, Rusbridger said: “It would be crazy if we were to all jump behind a pay wall and imagine that would solve things.” He conceded that, whilst pay walls are unlikely to be erected around Guardian.co.uk, it was good that journalism was “trying different things.”

http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/537204.php

7 Lessons for Better Networking with Social Media

intelligentonline — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:53:21 +0000

Social media allows us to discover, connect, and engage with new people of interest. While most people are open to new connections and receiving messages from people they don’t know, there is a fine line between reaching out and “spamming.” The challenge is to make a connection clearly and effectively without wasting people’s time.

Many of us are on both sides of this relationship — sometimes making the connection, sometimes receiving the invitation. To help navigate these waters a little better, I’ve outlined seven key lessons for improving your social networking skills.

Find a Person’s Preferred Communication Channel
Say Just Enough
Don’t Expect a Response
Clarify Early
What You Want is Not the Point
Be Open Without Needing
Give Space

http://mashable.com/2010/01/18/better-social-networking/

How Social Media Has Changed Us

intelligentonline — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:16:06 +0000

Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen social media galvanize thousands over politics, create as many industries as it has destroyed, and offer an abundance of visual and audio entertainment. But has all this incredible change actually changed us, or just the world we live in?

Below are some areas in which social media has had lasting, and arguably permanent effects on the ways in which we live. The question is, are these changes all for the better?

Child Literacy
Ambient Intimacy
Knowledge was power
The re-invention of politics
Marketing flux
News as cultural currency

What do you think? Has social media changed you? How? For better or worse?

http://mashable.com/2010/01/07/social-media-changed-us/