Archive for October, 2006
YouTube Goes Corporate
The news late last week that Google had pulled thousands of clips from Comedy Central shows like “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report” and “South Park” from YouTube marked the end of YouTube as we know it.
YouTube was YouTube because it was cool. It was where you went to see clips from a recent Daily Show, or a recording from a Broadway show. By removing the copyrighted material Google is appeasing the media giants like Viacom (who also are a large Google advertiser) while alienating the young and technologically sophisticated audience that advertisers want to reach.
Filed under Social Media Optimization : Comments (4) : Oct 31st, 2006
Is MySpace Passé?
A Washington Post article over the weekend suggests as we did earlier this month that traffic to the main social media sites, especially MySpace is slowing if not falling.
Besides anecdotal comments from MySpace users, the Post did have some interesting data about how users are spending less time on MySpace than before:
One key measure of a site’s popularity is the amount of time a user stays on the site. Tracked over time, such usage data for older networking sites frequented by young people show how popularity gradually rises then falls, like an inchworm’s back.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (1) : Oct 29th, 2006
Politicians Miss Out On YouTube Again
Interesting article by Steve Bryant on Reel Pop recently about how politicians are not taking advantage of YouTube to distribute their ads. Steve looked at the US midterm congressional and senate races are was surprised to see how few politicians were actively using YouTube to reach out to voters:
Some of the highlights of his research were:
- Television ads predominate. But they’re not very popular. Politicians either don’t have time to speak directly to video-sharers, or they don’t know how.
- Candidates don’t typically upload their own videos or go to pains to “own” their keywords on YouTube. Most videos are copied segments of national TV shows.
Filed under Social Media Optimization : Comments (0) : Oct 26th, 2006
User Generated Content Important in Buying Decision
A recent Yahoo Autos study showed that 85% of online shoppers consider consumer generated content, particularly ratings and reviews, to be a key element in their research process when shopping for a new vehicle. That is a huge number and illustrates how important the community is in helping consumers make buying decisions.
“Data from this study demonstrates a largely untapped opportunity for auto manufacturers to engage with their customer via social media tools during the shopping process, allowing for open dialogue about their products, said Jennifer Dulski, general manager, Yahoo! Autos.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (1) : Oct 25th, 2006
Product Red Shows How Social Media Marketing Should Be Done
The Product Red initiative (the charity backed by Bono established to raise awareness and money to invest in African AIDS programs) launched recently and it is quickly turning into the poster child for how to successfully advertise on social networks.
Heather Hopkins at Hitwise had some interesting data on the UK success of the Product Red campaign:
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (4) : Oct 24th, 2006
Why Grouper and not YouTube?
That was the question that many observers last week when the news broke that Universal Music Group was suing Grouper and Bolt.com for copyright infringements. Well it seems that the reason why YouTube was not included was because YouTube was giving away stock in itself to Universal, Warner Music Group and Sony BMG before it was sold to Google. So now Universal, Warner and Sony could receive $50 million from Google’s acquisition of YouTube.
In some circles that is called settling a lawsuit before it goes to court!
Filed under Brand Marketing, Reputation Management, Social Media Optimization : Comments (0) : Oct 23rd, 2006
It’s all about the eyeballs
Three significant events happened this last week that will shape the social network landscape for the next 12-18 months. Google purchased YouTube and both Yahoo and Google announced Q3 earnings.
The Google/YouTube coverage has focused almost exclusively on the copyright issues that YouTube faces. What the mainstream media has failed to understand is that the YouTube purchase is all about eyeballs (kudos to Jeremy Zadowny for this insight).
Filed under Social Media Optimization : Comments (2) : Oct 22nd, 2006
Social Media Marketing Via Yahoo Answers
Amongst the disappointing earnings news from Yahoo this week was a couple of interesting quotes from Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel. When asked about social media Semel responded:
“We are convinced that the social media space will continue to grow and evolve, and we plan to be a key player in this business.” Semel, added that Yahoo has grown Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Yahoo Answers, which currently have 30 million users between the advertiser-coveted ages of 15 and 24.
Yahoo Answers qualifies as a social media site as it contains user-generated (UG) content where users ask questions and the community at large responds to them. This is the web 2.0 version of the messages boards.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (2) : Oct 19th, 2006
Tech Companies Embracing Virtual Reality
The virtual world of Second Life is getting some attention from IT stalwarts like IBM, Intel and Sun, who are using social media sites and tactics like Second Life, MySpace, YouTunbe and blogs to reach out to customers.
“Companies recognize that press releases still serve a purpose, but they don’t make a splash,” says Mat Small, a manager at public relations firm Bite Communications, which orchestrated Sun’s debut in Second Life.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (0) : Oct 18th, 2006
Has Traffic Peaked at Social Sites?
Interesting report from Nielson shows that the main social players like MySpace, Facebook and YouTube all saw less visitors to their sites in September when compared to August. This is really interesting as most online marketers will tell you that web site traffic usually picks up after Labor Day, it doesn’t fall!
From the Neilson report:
Visitors to social network heavyweight MySpace dropped to 47.2 million in September from 49.2 million in August, a 4 percent decline, per Nielsen//NetRatings. The decrease was more striking at YouTube, which Google just agreed to acquire for $1.65 billion. Compared to August, traffic in September fell 19 percent to 27.6 million. Facebook, which is a fixture on college campuses, had visitor counts drop 12 percent to 7.8 million
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (4) : Oct 17th, 2006
