Interesting…..This company www.reputationmanagers.com conducted a study by researching Fortune 100 brands on Google focusing on whether these companies had:

• Online properties owned by company versus bloggers and other users
• Sentiments – negative or positive as expressed by people

And they found that:

• Only 9% of companies had control over their brands in terms of online property ownership.
• 23% of companies had something or the other that was negative and it showed up on the 1st page of search engine results
• Only 8% had 100% good web pages listed
• 24% of the negativity was user generated opinions

Now, I didn’t see details of the sample size used in the study (perhaps I just didn’t look deep enough or it wasn’t disclosed) but the bottom-line message highlighted by this company is this:

Reputation management is VERY VERY important in this day and age of “user generated content”.

If you don’t engage in Social Media Networking and Promotion, how will you:

• Monitor negative press / comments and take action
• Promote the good and take action against online negativity
• Protect  your brand

(We’re here to help you do just that so don’t hesitate to contact www.netmcgroup.com today.)

http://reputationmanagers.com/blog/corporate-reputation-management-2009-study/

Facebook’s new feature allows advertisers to target friends of friends now. Until now, advertisers couldn’t target friends of friends from their current fan page, group, or application. But now with the ad targeting interface; advertisers can enable the feature to target market to friends of the user who they are connected to.

This feature of course is a HUGE win for advertisers who want to leverage their fan network to exponentially grow their reach.

But I wonder how many people will “unfriend” their friends when they begin to get bombarded by advertising from everyone and their brother?

“Unfriend” is the New Oxford American Dictionary’s 2009 Word of the Year (WOTY).

“Unfriend” means removing someone as a friend from your Facebook page. Since Social Media is becoming a “Lifestyle Change”, it makes sense that such words are becoming a part of our vocabulary.

But wait a minute; what’s this I read?  According to Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer at Oxford University Press, the Oxford Dictionary has the word Unfriend cited back in 1659.  Huh! A new word that’s not so new after all!

And if you think “unfriend” is a weird word, wait till you read some other finalists for the WOTY contest:

• Sexting – Sending sexually explicit content via text. Hmmm!
• Paywall – Blocking a site unless you pay to enter
• Deleb – a dead celebrity
• Choice mom – A mom who chooses to be a single mom
• Intexting – Texting while driving
• Funployed – Enjoying unemployment by pursuing fun activities

Hmmmm….some people are just creative I guess!

“eMarketer predicts that worldwide users accessing mobile devices from their smart phones will reach 607.5 million by 2013”. That’s not surprising although the numbers are impressive. If you are like me; addicted to technology, actively engaged on social platforms, and interested in doing everything efficiently, you would understand the growth of mobile social media usage.

The following chart (courtesy of emarketer) shows the trend for mobile social media users through 2013.

I agree with emarketer in that mobile + social makes for a powerful combination for marketers who wish to reach their target audiences instantaneously.

And as emarketer shows below, even on Mobile, Facebook, Myspace, Youtube and Twitter are just as popular.

I must admit to accessing Twitter and Facebook from my smart phone occasionally. Although it’s not my preferred method of social networking, yet, I expect that to change as my schedule becomes crazier and if I want to remain connected as I travel for business in 2010.

False advertising by companies on Facebook comes to light in a class action lawsuit that may be shaping up in California. Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, a law firm in CA is investigating complaints about unauthorized charges that users incurred when they participated in games like Mafia Wars (recall all those pesky FB invites you get to participate in Mafia Wars?) and Farmville.

A while ago there was a story about an Arizona man who tweeted about his vacation plans and believes that his tweeting led to a break-in their house resulting in loss of video equipment worth thousands.

As Social Media websites become more and more mainstream (and they are plenty mainstream already), WE (the users) will need to be more and more street-smart.

Here are some “Stupid-Simple” rules:

• Think before you post a thought or a comment.
• No matter HOW upset you are at your boss or your coworker, don’t vent in public because it WILL backfire.
• Read ALL the fine-print when participating in any games, promotions, or interactive ads
• Keep yourself apprised news through alerts to monitor what’s happening in the Social Media world

Crime (Greed, Fraud, etc.) on Social Media sites means the need for more activism and oversight through new laws.

But street-smartness will save you in most cases before you become the next victim.

Facebook and Google are at the Vatica! How cool is that? I knew that the current Pope is progressive and more in touch with technology given that he owns a laptop and even has an ipod.

But the news that Google, Facebook, Youtube, and Wikipedia representatives will spend four days presenting Social Media and its advantages and disadvantages shows how even religion is changing as the digital wave keeps spreading.

Social Media is a perfect way to spread messages fast. It only makes sense that the Vatican may be looking to leverage its power to reach its audience.

I can just see it:

• Sermons via youtube
• Tweets about the Pope’s activities
• Inspirational messages on Facebook fan page

Digital Religion is here!

(I don’t see how “confessions” can happen digitally and still remain private but you know what; some genius will figure out a way to offer “private confessionals”…….)

So the old adage of “the end doesn’t justify the means” applies well here. Apparently Facebook was hacked by a group calling itself Control Your Info.

Their purpose?

A good one! They hacked into Facebook Groups to highlight security issues or lack thereof; of popular social media websites.

The power users who GET Social Media Marketing are the ones who spend more time sharing information or discussing products or services. These power users spend minimal time discussing personal stuff like kids, family, travel, etc. unless they are speaking somewhere or are in the news.

I’ve been monitoring @guykawasaki on Twitter and I find that his tweets (many are repeated; perhaps cause they are scheduled or something) contain a lot of informational link and many focus on promoting his website. But even with self-promotion and his admittance that he hires others to tweet for him, he continues to grow his influence through the horders of followers he has (which are just under 200K followers).

So I think that the “Control your info” hackers had a good purpose to their hacking. But does the end justify the means? Don’t think so!

Facebook users got caught unaware when they discovered Facebook look and feel and content placement changes recently. No one likes change even if it is minor and done on a site that is “free” to majority of the 300 million users who spend time networking on Facebook. (Always makes me wonder why free sites still have so many demanding users but that’s the topic for another blog.)

What changed on Facebook?

Earlier this year Facebook created a Twitter-type feed with real-time updates and all the status updates from friends which were displayed without any screening or filters.

This new changes on Facebook has a News Feed which filters posts and status updates that interest you from your network. It makes things more convenient because you see only those items which your friends have found the need to comment or highlight in any way.

Other minor changes were also included which include highlighting things, moving the events tabs a bit higher, and highlighting birthdays to make absent-minded friends remember better.

So what’s the big deal then?

You see something called the “Live Feed”. If you decide to view the default News Feed, a bubble alongside the Live Feed link tells you the total number of posts; so you can tell which ones were not presented in the Live Feed.

The Live Feed keeps refreshing as new posts come in and the screen updates itself. Whenever this happen you have to scroll to get to wherever you were when you were interrupted by the updated posts. That can be a teeny bit annoying I suppose.

The other problem with the new News Feed is that it shows comments from your friends and their friends and so on. I’m not sure yet if settings can be changed to remove the comments from your friends friends, need to check that out.

Change is good and yet….

Over half a million people have joined a group called “CHANGE FACEBOOK BACK TO NORMAL”

All I can say to those people is that with Twitter and Facebook trying to outdo one another; more changes on both sites are going to be norm rather than the exception.

(Not to mention that those half-a-million people need a life; I mean come on, isn’t social networking a MEANS to an end?)

I read this article by Kristina Knight but I didn’t quite understand her point as it relates to the study. Read an excerpt here:

“Although many small businesses have jumped on the social bandwagon by creating profiles or even branded microsites, it seems many still may not fully understand how social marketing is different from traditional marketing. According to a recent CitiBank/GfK Roper survey three-quarters of small businesses find social networks are not working for them.”

by Kristina Knight

“The businesses report that they aren’t finding valid leads via social sites such as Facebook, LinkedIN and Twitter. Instead, 61% of these businesses report that search engines still funnel more valid leads and in-market consumers to their businesses.”

The survey also found:

• 42% of small businesses are using the Internet more to grow the business
• 57% are utilizing company websites in additional ways
• 86% report they are not in the social space at all
• Email marketing (28%) and online advertising (25%) are two leading ways small businesses are generating revenue

The question has to be, however, do these small businesses understand just how different the social space is from online, mobile or traditional advertising.

For example, consumers may ‘friend’ a brand or company they like, but this may not result in instant purchases. Despite this, it is important for small businesses to make regular status updates, Tweet daily specials/deals or even create circulars which can be shared through widgets. That way Consumer A can share the information with Social Friend B. In turn, this could net the brand a ‘sale’ from Social Friend B which doesn’t seem to have come from the social network.

Finally, there are the social consumers who make recommendations, Tweet purchases or blog about new products. This one consumer could push twenty or more sales, but the social network hosting the recommendation, Tweet or blog won’t appear to have had an effect.

What I think?

Social media creates branding and visibility. Social media “proliferates” your presence through viral marketing when someone retweets your tweet or when a “friend” broadcasts a message to his or her network.

Should all this proliferation, brand awareness, and visibility generate leads? Absolutely!

But is that something that’s going to happen instantaneously? Let’s get REAL! It takes TIME!

Strategic execution, long-term implementation, and engagement are the three key ingredients to seeing social media success.

Patience people! We just became aware of this “Social Networking and Influencing Decisions” phenomenon!