The Social Practice

Archive for the ‘social networks’ Category

Social Service

A study by Gartner found 55% of consumers expect a response the same day to an online complaint – only 29% receive one. So by the end of 2012, 80% of companies plan to use social media for customer service. To use social media affectively, integrate it into your existing customer service, create humanised response models to help build relationships, and also, monitor social interaction to spot issues and solve problems before they become a crisis. Social media gives you the power to keep current customers happy and show potential customers how well you do business. So what are you waiting for?

Get Promoted!

Getting married? Had a baby? Sponsored posts have been available to brands for some months now, but how about personal posts? Facebook has announced that you can now pay a small fee (approx. $7) to promote posts to make sure friends don’t miss your big news by bumping it up higher in their newsfeed. But where is the etiquette of promoting our lives to our friends? And how will it conflict with brand promotion posts? This is certainly one we’ll be keeping our eye on.

Tweets Make History!

As if Thursday nights live political debate was not big enough, millions of people took to Twitter to voice their opinions on the event, accumulating to 10.3 million tweets in 90 minutes – making it the most tweeted about event in American political history. The number of tweets 24 hour prior this debate was double the mentions from the 2008 election in total – my hasn’t politics gone social! After our most social Olympics to date this summer, could this be the most social election? With so many voices in the public sphere, if you ever doubted the power of social media before, you won’t question it any more!

Foursquare making money

Foursquare will now let companies issue offers and updates to its users as ‘Promoted Updates’ and ‘Promoted Specials’ under their Explore tab. The feature generates personalised recommendations depending on your location as well as the user’s lists, interests, or places liked by their friends. A bunch of brands have already signed up as pilot partners and we’re now waiting for offers on sunscreen (hurrah for sunshine).

Scan for a free coffee

Cafe Joe, a coffee chain in Israel has made innovative use of a location-based print ad to direct customers to their nearest branch. Using a QR code, the ad not only scans your location and suggests the quickest route to the cafe, it also incentivises providing users with a voucher to get a free cup of coffee. These cheeky QR codes just won’t go away and it’s refreshing to see a simple yet effective use for them. Nice work, guys.

They are getting younger

Maily is a new iPad app designed for kids as young as 4 years old, enabling them to create personalised emails. Unlike regular email which parents may find unsafe, Maily lets them create an address book for their kids using their own Facebook account. Kids tap on a familiar face and draw using crayons to compose an email, or simply attach a photo. Cool, isn’t it? As if it isn’t hard enough to get your kids off the iPad already!

Google+ users most satisfied

In its first ever appearance on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Google+ has topped the list with a score of 78 owing to the absence of traditional advertising, more focus on privacy, and a better mobile experience. Facebook has dropped to 61, below Pinterest (69), Twitter (64), and LinkedIn (63). Facebook users complain about ads and have privacy concerns, and we are keen to see if Google+ manages to stay away from such issues. After months of Google+ tumbleweed jokes, it’s great to see that its functionality trumps its competitors – at least in the opinion of its users.

Call me, maybe

We love the interactive banner created for Volkswagen to promote their voice control function in their new Touch Phone Kit. People use the banner ads to call their Facebook friends by simply connecting their account and saying their friend’s name. The callers would appear as though they’re driving at the other end, a screenshot of which is then posted on their Facebook wall. It’s great to see that social and innovative banner advertising ideas are being worked on to engage with consumers.

No more excuses

Did someone say “is there’s an app for that?” The Twist app for iOS shares your estimated time of arrival with friends, so they’ll know exactly when to expect you. It even sends out a reminder a minute before you’re about to see them. The app uses your location and the traffic data around you to calculate the time you’ll take to reach from one place to another. Unfortunately we’ll have to wait to use Twist as it’s currently available in the US only. In the meantime, we’ll get a new list of excuses ready (we are mostly punctual, but hey).

Pinterest: Winning

Latest data shows that Pinterest is leaving the likes of Google, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and Bing behind in terms of referral traffic. The study adds to the social network’s performance chart well as it left Twitter behind a few months ago. The new data shows that Pinterest’s referral traffic rose from 0.85% to 1.19% over the last six months. Techcrunch points out that it’s an additional form of SEO and not a replacement for keyword building. We agree. In fact, we were busy launching a Pinterest page for our friends at Argos a while ago, and it got featured in a recent review covering the top 10 UK retail brands.

Shopping With Friends

As you may have noticed, we are fascinated with new trends in ecommerce and the potential of social has as part of your experience. An iPad app called Pickie creates a personalised page for you based on your Facebook friends’ activity. It generates products that might be of interest after considering the categories and brands your network interacts with. Not just that, it also adds details such as price and any relevant comments. We have already asked for an invite. (Of course.)

Look Ma, New Figures

Infographic warning! Social Media Benchmark, a rolling six-monthly study includes participants from UK, Europe, Africa, and Asia and explores how social media is being adapted to and invested in businesses. Twitter tops a variety of categories though we see a curious lack of Pinterest and would be keen to see if it makes it to the list soon. Among other interesting information, the study cites budget as a possible barrier to getting the most out of social media over the next 12 months. Have a look and let us know how you see social media’s role evolve from here.

Donate Your Social Network

You can now donate your social network to Missing Children Society of Canada to help them track down missing children. The premise of the “world’s most valuable social network” is immediacy; with you providing permission to MCSC to broadcast from your Facebook or Twitter profile. We think it’s an incredible way to harness the power of social networks. What’s more, it’s geo-targeted so users in the relevant areas will see updates on their mobile phones before others. It’s a spectacular way to tap into communities for a good cause.

How Many Logos In Your Storybook?

A new Facebook app called Storybook will allow users to share their brand experiences. The announcement suggests that these stories will highlight the ways in which brands created memories for their consumers. The app is designed to save time for brands and helps them gain insights about their products in one place. Companies will need to ask an open-ended question to consumers and work with their responses thereafter. We are keen to see if users are willing to switch to another destination to share their stories with the brands they love.

Interest Graphs And Shopping Assistants

Back in April we were talking about the interest graph and here it is in action. Needle.com is a new way to shop online where people with similar interests help each other in their buying decisions. The website places like-minded people together by mapping their interests and brings in recommendations from someone you might trust. Needle.com is calling it a “fan-sourcing sales platform” by listing, training, and promoting fans of a certain brand to effectively recommend products to people located anywhere in the world. We’ll just say that we can’t wait to start shopping.

That’s a Great Plan!

A great new idea from Dutch company PlanSpot, due to launch in September, will offer a comprehensive way to set up and promote events on and off-line. The service can post on multiple social platforms simultaneously. All responses then feed on to one page, making it a lot easier to track feedback. There’ll be a Press Center where users can partner with suggested media partners to raise awareness. All this and it’s free for all to use! As Google+ Events launched this week it will be a welcome package to manage a multitude of platforms.

Pin-Spired

Now we all love to see someone getting it right and  Uniqlo are consistently up there with the best of the best on social media initiatives. Their latest feat: an incredibly well made, visually impressive, technically bamboozling Pinterest page – and we know, we build them! Utilising the scroll functionality perfectly, this hack is simply delightful. While we’re not sure what it would do for engagement and sales (it’s rather distracting) it’s certainly getting talked about. Bravo.

Close To You

Ford have introduced an interesting initiative, building on their Key Free Technology which unlocks a user’s car when they approach. They’ve taken the idea to the next level and introduced Key Free Log-In. Users download the software from the Ford website and enter all of their log-in info from different online platforms. Your portable device is now the key to your online world, automatically logging you in when you and your device are within range. A great idea to save time without having to remember countless passwords.

Buzz TV

Last week saw Channel 4 announce their new effort in social TV. The idea is to take the shows which create the most social buzz, and repeat them on their very own social channel; 4Seven. The Social Practice’s Steve Parker caught up with Ad Age to discuss the new initiative. See what he had to say here and let us know your thoughts. It’ll be on our screens from 4th July and we’ll be watching to see how it pans out.

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

This week sees the launch of Wander, a new social platform which documents your story through places. It’s one part Yelp, two parts Pinterest and a hearty measure of beauty. Users share places they’ve been, places they love, and places they dream of going to create their Wanderlog. It’s like digitising that old box of memories you’ve got and sharing it with the world. Functionality allows you to follow people or places, all on a variety of stunning templates. As is the way; you need to request an invite. Ours is in the post!

Let’s be Pickie

We’ve all been waiting for a truly social shopping experience to come along and sweep us off our feet. Well, we’ve heard on the grape vine of a platform that may do just that! It’s called Pickie and at its core it’s a shopping magazine for iPad. It pulls in data from your social channels and recommends products based on what your friends are talking about, where your social graph are spending their time and any mentions on blogs you follow. Pickie very cleverly combines product data and social data giving users a super-personalised, very pretty shopping catalogue. Fantastic!

Just Business?

Working at a social agency we hear a lot of opinions about whether it’s right (read moral) for bloggers to accept cash and freebies from brands in return for reviews or endorsements. Does it affect the bloggers integrity and can it sway the option of the writer favourably?  Blogger and influencer outreach is important to brands particularly those who are targeting niche audiences. In the same way celebrities now have to clearly identify their endorsements, should blogs? This article by WWD goes into the argument in details but we’d love to know what you think.

An App That Gives you Eyes…

Introducing BlindSquare, an amazing new app, which aims to help improve blind and partially sighted people’s lives, with the help of FourSquarelocation based information. Developed by Finnish company MIPSoft, BlindSquare uses GPS info, speech synthesis and open source data from 4Square to guide the visually impaired around cities. It can inform users of current location, list places of interest and even help them take the bus! Also this week, 4Square users may have noticed a whole host of updates to the app recently, get the low-down here.

Airtime, do we want it?

Heard of Airtime yet? This week we’ve been reading a lot of rather… interesting feedback in the press about the new video chat service, started by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning. ThinkChatroulette but with added filters to keep the filth at bay. Users connect to the service through Facebook and can speak to their friends or other random users (linked by mutual friends, location and interests). Even with some pretty negative reviews you’d be crazy to ignore the dream-duo behind the site. Keep an eye on it – whatever happens, it’ll be interesting.

Check-in before you cheque out…

This week American Express and Foursquare have announced that their partnership will be going trans-Atlantic and landing in the UK. The New York credit company have been working with location based check-in service Foursquare for some time in the States and have previously teamed up with Facebook and Twitter. All of this is to prove that they’re serious about becoming a force to be reckoned with in the mobile payment sector. The initiative is really simple: sync your Amex and 4Square account, check in and receive money back offers when you swipe your card. Just in time for the Olympics.

The changing World Wide Web

“Queen of the net”, Mary Meeker has released herquarterly report this week. As usual it’s an incredibly useful go-to-source for anything that is remotely related to the internet. She talks us through the current internet stats and where we stand, as well as looking at the adoption of mobile world-wide, giving us a great summary of how everything has been “re-imagined” in the last 10 years. It even touches on whether or not we are in the middle of an internet “bubble.” It’s definitely worth a read.

Social Drinker

Guinness have come up with a brilliant idea to get people talking. They send round a new batch of Guinness branded pint glasses to local bars which, when you fill with the black magic beer, a QR code appears, as if from no-where! When you scan the code the app will share the news of your drink via Facebook, Twitter, 4Square and Instagram. It also sends out the location of the drinker in the hope their friends will join them for more Guinness drinking fun. Cheers!

Do you Follow?

Ever scrolled down your Twitter feed and been bamboozled by what seems to resemble Greek, Martian or some other, equally bizarre language? Well, the lovely people at E-moderation are here to help. They’ve put together a list of the most common abbreviations that get thrown around the Twitterverse helping us decipher some of the more absurd acronyms. This great dictionary will be useful to all tweeters; from the casual LOL’er to the more serious #CMAD fanatic. Have a look and see if you’ve got any to add.

So.cl Search

If there is one thing the world needs it’s another social network right? This week Microsoft launchedSo.cl to the public. They say it’s an experimental social search platform, “exploring the possibilities of social search for learning purposes.” It has all the characteristics of the other networks, with user profiles, sharing, liking and tagging but rather than a 140 character status, photos or videos, it’s all based around your searches. We can see the appeal for group work and students collaborating on projects but would you really want to build a network around your search?

Hear me Tweet

Would you recognise the sound of a Tweet? How about 500 Tweets?  The Listening Machine, a joint project from The Arts Council and the BBC might be able to help. They’ve produced an automated system that generates a continuous piece of music based on the activity of 500 UK Twitter users. The music is created in real time, slowing the tempo to keep it playing even when the Tweeters go to sleep. You can listen from any online device to the sounds of Britten Sinfonia‘s musical interpretation. But who’s behind the Tweets? Not even the participants know…