Have you noticed Twitter’s weekly round-up in your inbox? The summary includes popular content tweeted by your followers. As well as a personalised digest, it also includes the most popular tweets from around the world. What could this mean for brands? Increased reach for their messages and solving the notorious problem of tweets getting ‘lost in the noise’ are both possibilities. The development comes after Twitter bought social summary company Summify earlier this year.

Drive On By Facebook…

This week General Motors announced they’ll be stopping paid advertising on Facebook. They will, however, continue to pay £19m annually to maintain their brand pages. This could be due to businesses trying to pin traditional ROI ideals to digital, or possibly just a change in approach for big brands online due to the financial climate. To us it seems a shift towards customer retention rather than acquisition for the platform with the value of the paid for ads coming into question.

From #6ftUnder

Ever wondered what will happen to your vast array of social profiles when you pop your clogs? Now there are places you can go to deal with such things. If I die and DeadSoci.al are just two of the ways that let you schedule posts and share content from beyond the grave. Sound crazy? Well, US government now officially advise you to create a “social media will”! It seems this sensitive subject is important to address, even if it is ever-so-slightly creepy.

A Development for Developers

Facebook have announced the release of the “Facebook App Centre,” a platform within the social network to buy, download and install apps. A blog post on the site’s developer page this week says the “App Centre” will go live in the next few weeks online and on mobile. The new centre will allow for the development of paid-for apps and rely on user rankings, rather than ‘likes’ to push apps up the tables. It seems Facebook are trying to encourage developers to get behind them and help improve the social platform. Your move Apple…

Social Sleep Patterns

Japanese clothing company Uniqlo have teamed up with Yoko Kanno and Grammy nominated Cornelius, to design an app that helps you wake up by singing you a song. The music which shakes you from your slumber will change depending on the time, which day of the week it is and the weather outlook for the day. Users have the ability to share the song the second the alarm has been turned off and their day has begun. Cute, right?! Well – annoying as it may seem, we think it’ll go down a treat with Uniqlo’s target market.

Skies the limit

Online social influence affecting real world situations is here for the long-haul… Klout, the influence scoring site, has partnered with Cathay Pacific Airways, to utilise their newly released iPhone app. Having mobile Klout, (as long as your influencer score is above 40) will get you access to the airline’s first class lounge at San Francisco International Airport. The goal is to garner some social coverage for the airline, encouraging influencers to share their experiences via Instagram, tweeting or checking in. Simply show your profile on the app to the receptionist and you have exclusive access to what’s behind that velvet rope.

Only Getting Better

This week Pinterest have taken further steps to solve these copyright issues we’ve all been hearing so much about and which had the potential to seriously impact growth. The lead Pinners have added the ability to give credit where credit is due, attributing a pin to its creator. Other interesting noise coming from the photo bookmarking people is around brands and how they can use the ‘pin it’ functionality to engage customers. Gilt last month ran a great campaign encouraging social sharing by offering discounts when products received enough pins-it’s an exciting example of how the site can deliver social rewards.

Say No to Mother’s Day

As the US gears up for Mother’s Day (on May 13^th) CHI&Partners NY and Every Mother Counts, Christy Turlington’s maternal health charity, are asking mothers to go silent. As a show of solidarity with the 1,000 families left motherless every day due to complications related to childbirth, they ask mums not to accept gifts or phone calls and not to post their status on a day conventionally focused on them. The campaign is centred around a No Mother’s Day Facebook page (where moms can show their support) and publicized by a video featuring celebrity mums. Please help to spread the word.

Tweet If You Want To Go Faster

Twitter.com isn’t typically the go to site when it comes to a social media dashboard. Tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck added much needed functionality with the result that many users have used third party clients to access twitter… until now. The Social Practice is a huge fan of browser extensions – seamless ways of making our daily work faster and more efficient.  Blogger Jeff Bullas lists 5 excellent Chrome extensions here that’ll make your tweeting smoother. From influencer identification to previewing articles without leaving the page, they’re pretty snazzy. This also comes at a time where Twitter has made some subtle UI changes that some of you may have noticed.

The interest graph versus the social graph

This week we’ve been thinking a lot about the interest graph (what I like, pin or spring) versus the social graph (who I know) and their implications for the on-line shopping experience. In this longer than usual post we outline the key differences and why we believe the interest graph may ultimately be more valuable to retailers. We’d love to know your thoughts.

Bespoke Twitter Ad

This summer’s blockbuster, Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ has already got people talking with their hugely successful viral clips and now Vizeum are taking the strategy further with Channel 4′s first live broadcast ad  this Sunday. The world premiere of the trailer will be aired during Homeland and fans will be encouraged to share their thoughts about the film on Twitter using the hashtag #areyouseeingthis as well as via Social TV app Zeebox. Twitter responses will then be used in a bespoke ad in the next break, utilising the second-screen habits of TV watchers.

If You Can Share it, You Can Sell It

This week we caught wind of a new idea that may well give social commerce a nudge in the direction we’ve all been hoping for, a little closer to the highly anticipated “tipping point”. Sahil Lavingia, one of the brains behind Pinterest has started Gumroad. Their tag line is “sell anything you can share,” and the idea is to empower the creatives out there by providing them a platform from which to sell anything they come up with. It could be a song, picture, blog or even a packed lunch! Have a look here.

The basic premise, of course, is straightforward: by combining social data (who I am, who my friends are) with commercial data (what I buy, what the retailer wants to promote) brands can deliver a more tailored, relevant shopping experience with benefits for both the user and the business.

Taken a step further, enlightened brands can enable users to sell direct to their social networks. This may be about identifying power users and enabling them to sell on the brand’s behalf (a kind of social affiliate model) or a more straightforward member get member approach, with baked in social context.

The possibilities are hugely exciting, both for the everyday user, for the micro-entrepreneur and for brands-who both open up a layer of rich, free data and potentially unlock a salesforce they could never afford using conventional distribution.

The reality has been, with rare exceptions, less compelling. Yes, there are some exciting outliers, such as Etsy’s gift recommendation engine, Giff Gaff’s social sales force or Converse’s new social sales platform enabling users to design and sell their own trainers but they remain in the minority.

Converse Create and Giff Gaff: rare examples of truly social commerce

There are a number of reasons for this:

• Facebook’s  “like” button is undoubtedly the most ubiquitous social signal we have. There are 2.7 billion likes and comments a day. It captures a truly extraordinary amount of data at an amazingly granular level. If I’ve liked a pink toaster (I haven’t), it knows about it.
• Integrating that data set with a retail database however is no small task. Cross matching the many and various things I’ve liked, or my friends have liked, and aligning them with product recommendations involves significant development time and effort.
• Moreover, while the ubiquity of the “like” button has unlocked a new data stream for Facebook, its primary data set arguably remains the social graph, rather than the interest graph.  While the social graph is undoubtedly a hugely powerful data set, there are two flaws increasingly impacting its potency from a commercial point of view:

1. There is a latency to the social graph: Perhaps it’s my age but my Facebook friends are primarily people I’ve known for a long while-school friends, college friends and former colleagues.
2. While there is an implicit relationship between who I know and what I might like it is by no means a perfect relationship. Herd theory would suggest that the relationship between my network and my behaviour is profound, and Facebook have impressive data on the ripple effect of friends-of-fans but this doesn’t easily translate into the seamless, intuitive social shopping experience of our dreams.

The interest graph, by contrast, has both currency –what I’m reading, looking at and liking right now-and an explicit articulation of what I might like to buy.  Jeremiah Owyang recently observed that:

“Pinterest in the real world is like millions going to the shopping mall, filling shopping carts… then walking away.”

I’m not sure whether he meant it as a compliment or not, but it is this explicit signal of purchase intent that makes the interest graph so compelling-traffic referral from Pinterest would seem to bear this out. John Battelle’s seminal thinking on the “Database of Intentions” was evolved a few years ago to include the Commerce signal. Perhaps over time the “commerce intent” signal will become equally important.

The social graph versus the interest graph

Finally, although this is more a result of design and development choices than of an inherent difference in the data sets, services built on the interest graph currently have an open-ness and fluidity I’d argue those built purely on the social graph lack-they feel currently better placed to operate as a layer that sits across our entire online experience versus a destination.

It is the power of the interest graph that is fuelling the explosive growth of Pinterest, the buzz around Springpad 3.0 and (in part) the acquisition of Instagram. I found this quote from Mark Zuckerburg one of the most intriguing parts of the press coverage surrounding the deal:

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other”

The complementary point of course is an important one. Social data and interest data are by no means mutually exclusive.

In fact there’s a symbiotic relationship between the two. Social data often fuels early adoption of interest networks (it would be lonely on Pinterest if I couldn’t find some friends to get me started). Conversely, the interest graph rapidly creates new and dynamic social ties-so a fascinating data ecosystem starts to evolve with the social graph as a relatively static foundation and the interest graph as a dynamic, looser and rapidly evolving network that sits on top. A challenge for Google + (which I remain convinced is a much more compelling proposition than we give it credit for) is that it may currently lack the social foundation to build the interest graph upon-and unsurprisingly Facebook are unwilling to provide it.  The social graph still sits a kernel at the heart of many interest based services but I wonder if ultimately it will be less valuable commercially.

The social graph remains a kernel at the heart of the interest graph

So there are three key characteristics of the interest graph which I believe make it uniquely powerful:

• Currency
• Explicit signal of purchase intent
• A layer, not a destination

But what does this mean for brands and businesses? I believe there are four interesting implications for any brand operating in the digital space:

The power of behavioural versus engineering solutions:

By triggering the right behaviour, services like Pinterest, Springpad et al have unlocked a data set that would otherwise have required a relatively complex (and ultimately blunt) engineering solution. How could changes in user behaviour resolve issues for your business you struggle to address with technology or infrastructure?

Providing a platform for self-expression:

These services have unlocked that behaviour by providing a platform for easy, frictionless self-expression. I don’t have to be a creator to show you what I like or find beautiful-and the majority of users aren’t-but I feel gratified when you appreciate my taste. How can you offer your users the same experience? What behaviour might it unlock?

Do one thing brilliantly:

What’s interesting about all these emerging services is that they do one thing brilliantly-photo sharing, pinning, springing, link sharing. By doing that they seem to create a different kind of user behaviour than more generalist networks-people seem to behave differently around a specialist service designed around a single passion, rewarding it with more quality input and a deeper emotional connection. Few brands though, have the confidence to do one thing well in the digital space-there’s invariably the temptation to add just a few more features. Among the rare examples of this kind of focus are Burberry’s Art of the Trench and Footlocker’s Sneakerpedia-and we love them for it.

Don’t forget to be interesting:

To survive in a world where consumers can signal at every turn what they find interesting, beautiful or entertaining, brands need to do interesting things. In a world where users can express themselves by assembling the images and articles that appeal at the touch of a button-and where those images and articles become a powerful purchase signal-our content needs to be something users are proud to share. The age of dull, uniform photography and corporate articles is over.  As John Battelle puts it:

“All brands are publishers. Learn to be a good one”.

Google Gear Up

This week Google spoke of integrating Google+ commenting on YouTube. Tom Pickett, head of operations at YouTube, announced Google’s push  towards social for the site; enabling shareability and improving comment functionality. It seems like a smart move from the search giant along with their recent re-design and their branch out into TV advertising. It looks like their harnessing some of YouTube’s 800 million unique monthly users for their social networking platform. Keep an eye on this; it’s set to get interesting

Counting Klout

Klout; as much as we love to measure and identify influence, the site has been criticised for being a little blunt. But this hasn’t stopped them introducing Brand Squads (brand pages), using Red Bull as their official launch partners. The new development makes it easier for brands to recognise and embrace their top online influencers and in turn creates competition among fans to get onto the leader boards as influencers on their pages. The clever part is that a user’s klout is measured specifically for the brand in question rather than just their total influence online, opening up opportunities for real, effective outreach and user participation.

Real Social Buzz

We’ve stumbled across a very sweet (pardon the puns) campaign from the people at Rowse Honey. They’re inviting fans to thank the Honey Bees for all their hard work making honey by sending thank you Facebook messages or tweets with #BusyBees. Rowse are then going to hand write every note they get and plant a bee-friendly-flower with it to show their appreciation. They’ll even send you a picture of your flower and note. And, once they’ve reached their 5000 flower target, all the flowers will be sent to community gardens. What a great way to create a buzzz online!

Ready, Steady, Spring!

The relaunch of social notebooking site Springpad, now Springpad 3.0 sees the 3m users platform come to life with a new look and functionality re-vamp. We think it may well be the next big thing and we’re not alone, with many commentators observing that it now combines the best of Pinterest with added functionality and utility. Edward Boches and co have developed the original platform so users can share and collaborate on notebooks as well as create communities around #tags. It’s  a much more social experience, but still with absolute user control on privacy. We can already imagine all kinds of applications such as collaborative recipe books for food brands, fashion designers sharing their moodboards and inspirations and even enterprise applications for teams to share notes, stimulus and references. Exciting stuff and more evidence of the strength of the interest graph.

The Best Laid Schemes

There’s been a lot of noise this week about Google + and the changes they’ve made to the design and functionality of their social platform. There’s been considerable debate over the success of the platform, but with Larry Page emphasising the service as Google’s “social spine” during yesterday’s Q1 earnings call and celebrating 170m users, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. As we highlighted in this post a few months back, Google + as a destination may not be the point. During all the hype however we caught wind of another exciting project started by a group of Googlers which got us excited. It’s called Schemer and the idea is to help people make the most of their free time. Users can create their own “schemes” and invite “accomplices” to join in with other members plans. Whether you use it to make plans with friends or help you find interesting thing to do we think they’re onto a winner!

You know what’s cool?

As The Social Network told us, one billion dollars… So, Facebook bought Instagram on Monday. While there was a wave of protest from Instagram’s passionately engaged community, more interesting perhaps is the analysis of what this purchase means for Facebook. Certainly it highlights some key preoccupations for the company going forward: 1. The primacy of the mobile experience and 2. The emerging importance of shared interests, rather than simply social connections. (That pesky interest graph again). Perhaps most significantly, it starts to hint at what the IPO might mean for Facebook, with investor pressure to grow and to neutralise the competition. Some interesting analysis can be found here and here and it’s certainly a development worth watching.

Too Good to be True

This week we’ve heard news of a great new start-up focused on consumer reviews driving social commerce. Swaggable’s idea is to use the social graph to target a key demographic, send them a free sample of a product and in-turn, for them to post on Facebook about their experience. Adnan Aziz, founder and CEO, says “Swaggable gives brands a way to side-step ad culture,” a good plan considering how effective peer recommendations are compared to paid advertising. The firm has grown organically from a few hundred members to 3000 in just 12 weeks and with 75% of samples sent receiving social attention; they seem set for big things.

Taste the Internet

Pepsi have come up with an interesting way of engaging their 7.9 million Facebook fans. They’re releasing a new flavour of cola called Pepsi Next and since fans can’t actually taste it over the internet, Pepsi are employing comedians to impersonate you tasting it based on the information from your profile. Users will have to opt-in for a chance to be selected and if you’re lucky enough to be chosen they’ll analyse your page to work out what you might be like in person and send you a video of an actor playing the part of, well… you. Have a look.

Going for Gold

It’s not uncommon for brands to use Social Media – listening to it and reacting positively however is. Bring on Cadbury’s and their relaunch of Wispa Gold. After some fantastically nostalgic noise for this discontinued chocolately treat, Cadbury’s then used these voices, promoted the hashtag #WispaGold Trend and created a ‘Tweet for Sweets’ challenge, resulting in some outstanding sales. Social Media Manager Jerry Daykin said “Since the impassioned voices that helped bring Wispa Gold back were so effective, we decided to use similar voices to help spread awareness of its relaunch.”

Creative Crowdfunding

At The Social Practice we’re really rather fond of Kickstarter and it’s great to see brands using it well. Andrew Tarlow, a restaurateur based in Brooklyn, has been using the funding platform to raise money in order to develop a gallery above one of his stores. The idea is to promote the brand’s magazine, Diner Journal, and bring the community closer together through art and creativity. We think it’s a great idea and considering they’re less than $200 away from their goal it seems lots of others agree. Have a look at their Kickstarter video and see what you think.

Pinterest’s Maturing

Pinterest this week have made further changes to their terms of service, to be put into practice on the 6^th of April. One of the main changes has to do with Pinterest previously having the right to sell anything users pinned to their boards. Pinterest say they had never intended to sell any content and have altered the terms accordingly. On top of this the  guidelines are evolving to be more realistic with an emphasis on discouraging “thinspiration” type boards and pictures showing super-skinny models. All in all Pinterest seems to be getting increasingly responsible. They really do grow up so quick.

Under-Appreciated on Twitter?

Ever wondered what it would be like to have a celebrity-sized Twitter following? Well an interesting new idea from Fame could give you just that. All you have to do is connect your Twitter to Fame and everyday they’ll select one lucky winner. If it’s you everyone else in the Fame community (currently 6K + members) will automatically follow your feed for one day. If they like what they see you could end up with a stack of new followers, a great Twitter influence and, ultimately your name in lights… Well, we can dream can’t we?

Introducing F-Commerce Evolution

Tinypay believe that selling and buying on Facebook is big; so big that they’ve just launched MarketPage. It’s an app that enables celebrities, athletes, musicians and artists to allow retailers access to their fan base to sell products. Product endorsement isn’t new to Social Media, we all remember that tweet from Jordan, but this development with e-commerce is a big step towards social shopping. Snoop Dogg is the first to launch his own store, the Snooper Market, and we can excuse the pun because we all secretly want a pair of Snoop Slippers.

Social Psychic…

Ever wondered if the thoughts, conversations, and debates expressed in public social conversation were of any importance to real life? We’re not just talking about brand monitoring here; this information can prevent the spread of flu outbreaks and stop wildfires.We’ve seen Google identify flu trends worldwide though search but now Gnip is working with social platforms and publishers to essentially predict the future and help a number of people and businesses in the process. From spotting a good investment for hedge funds to tacking the spread of cholera in Haiti, Gnip are a testament to the growing importance and economical influence of social data.

Sell your TinyLightbulbs

We’ve all heard of crowd funding, where ideas are backed by many people to become a reality. But after the exciting road to creation, momentum can fail. How do you get sales and exposure for your final product to targeted customers. That’s where TinyLightbulbs comes in, a marketplace for some of the most unique crowd funded ideas. A place to promote new products and sell them, as well as offering advice to small businesses and reviewing the products available. This is just the beginning of a start up community, banding together to grow.