Welcome
to eModeration’s round-up of all that is intriguing, alarming or odd in
the world of social media, compiled by Kate Williams. For more social
media snippets, follow her on @emodkate – or for general twittery,
@KateVWilliams.
This week: Chaps, we need feedback! Twice-weekly we slave over a hot
keyboard without a clue what you, our beloved readers, think of our
round-ups – so waddya reckon? Are we too long, too short, or just
right? What about the news that we cover – is there an area we’re
missing that you’d like to hear more about? If you are an opinionated
type, and would care to share your thoughts with us, we would love to
hear from you: please do post comments below – or tweet me @emodkate.
ON GOOGLE …
Lawks – relations between Apple and Google have recently resembled an
imploding celebrity marriage: one knows one’s interest is prurient, but
somehow one can’t bear to look away. One minute they’re auctioning the
wedding photos in a gush of undying love; the next, Team Jobs and Team
Schmidt are briefing against one another amidst a frenzy of toxic
recrimination, allegations of dysfunction, and bilious regret.
Last month, Apple launched a patent-infringement
suit against HTC, the Taiwanese company whose phones run Google’s
Android operating system. The move was widely read as the first thrust
in what will prove to be a sustained assault on Google itself – one
which Team Jobs will only abandon if Google makes an unlikely retreat
from what Apple clearly perceives as its core business: mobile device
technology.
This week, the New York Times revealed that the recent intensification of hostilities might have much to do with Google’s snatch-purchase of Ad Mob,
the mobile advertising network it bought in November for a hefty $750
million, while Apple dithered over the deal. The Times’ piece neatly
illuminates the two companies’ conflicting approaches to mobile
development – the one a ferociously-policed walled-garden, the other a
freewheelin’ realm of non-proprietary apps; and catalogues with
horrified glee the perceived slights and small betrayals which litter
the landscape in which the two tech titans now duke it out.
The Financial Times, meanwhile, reports that Google is (at last) ‘99% certain’
to pull out of China, having finalised a detailed plan for a phased
withdrawal. Last week, the Chinese government insisted that it was not prepared to compromise in the matter of censorship – and issued a brusque warning
to Google’s business partners that it would not tolerate any divergence
from its censorship directives, regardless of what Google itself did.
According to Business Insider,
while Google might be sorely tempted to ‘go unfiltered’ – forcing China
to close the service down (and providing an excuse for Google to go
public with the backstory) – they’re unlikely to do so. The company is
reportedly concerned that its PRC employees will suffer retaliatory
action, and intends to leave quickly, but quietly.
Finally, a government panel appeared to have Google locked in its sights when it called for a news tax
to be levied on news-regurgitators last week. The ponderously-named
Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society warned that
British news is now controlled by a shrinking pool of media players,
and that a ‘Google Tax’ is required to foster a diversity of
news-providers. The idea of clipping Google’s wings – but without
offering grist to NewsCorp’s mill - is an intriguing and novel solution
to what is usually described in terms of a Murdoch/Google binary.
ON FACEBOOK …
A slow news week for Facebook, in comparison to the flurry of coverage
it received last week: first for failing to adopt a panic-button for
children, then for threatening to sue the Daily Mail over the ‘brand
damage’ caused by that papers’ allegation that children are at risk on
Facebook.
One tantalising story has emerged, however, to pique our curiosity:
it seems that Mark Zuckerberg could yet be prosecuted for using the
private Facebook login details of two journalists to hack into their
email account, way back in 2004. Business Insider reports that the two
journalists were investigating allegations that Zuckerberg had ‘stolen’
crucial functionality from a fledgling social network which had hired
him to consult. It further claims that at least one of the laws he
broke is still within its statute of limitations, meaning that
Zuckerberg is, in theory, at risk of a 5 year jail sentence.
ON TWITTER …
Yesterday at SXSW, Twitter CEO Evan Davies introduced the world to Twitter’s new baby chick:
@anywhere, a service which will allow users to access the microblogging
service from third party sites in much the same way as Connect does for
Facebook users. Initial partnerships were announced with a roster of
news sites and startups – including the Huffington Post, eBay, Digg and
the New York Times – as Williams demonstrated how @anywhere will enable
users to follow news columnists without logging in to Twitter, and to
send tweets from external news sites.
But while Williams’ @anywhere announcement was received with polite
interest, a subsequent keynote chat with Davies by interviewer Umair
Haque was very poorly received.
The lightweight interview, in which Haque pitched a series of softball
questions at Williams, generated an excruciating flurry of distinctly
underwhelmed tweets: “the guy behind me is snoring” was one, followed
by “Umair’s career as an interviewer is toast”. Fed up with Haque’s
failure to pin Davies down on anything of real interest – his thoughts
on Foursquare being a glaring f’rinstance – the audience was soon
shuffling awkwardly towards the doors.
Earlier, Evan Williams told the BBC
that Twitter will become ‘fundamental to government’, serving as a key
conduit through which global citizens will communicate with those who
govern on their behalf.
But it seems this cheering – though in the light of Google’s recent
Chinese woes, perhaps over-optimistic – news has yet to reach the
various UK local councils which have recently banned both members of
the public, accredited journalists, and in some cases, their very own
selves, from Tweeting public meetings. Twitter bans have been enforced
even when live reporting was clearly in the public interest – as when
the Manchester Evening News was prevented from reporting on Twitter the
proceedings of a highly-charged and controversial planning meeting. As The Next Web
points out, politicians are increasingly making use of Twitter to get
their message out to voters; but some have clearly yet to realise that
this social networking lark is, in fact, a two-way deal.
In other Twitter news:
Sigh – another round-up, another news story
claiming that only a micro-chunk of Twitter’s users are active. But
perhaps not for much longer: Twitter’s recent roll-out of geolocation,
a dramatically smoother version of its mobile site, and the ‘leaked’
promise of more ‘nifty site features’ to come, seem to confirm that
Twitter is determined to snag back those of us who access its services
via external apps and clients.
The LA Times reports
that the makers of third-party apps like Brizzly and Tweetie are
anxiously scrambling for new arenas in which to concentrate their
efforts: they fear that Twitter has focused its now-considerable
resources on improving the functionality of its site, after years spent
simply keeping up with the demand for its service.
Finally, the microblogging site launched a new anti-phishing service
which will allow it to scan all links posted by users for malware, bank
scams, and other bad stuff. The new service – which passes links
automatically through twt.tl,
a new Twitter-owned URL shortener – will initially be focused on direct
messages and email notifications, since this is where most fraudulent
activity takes place.
ON YOUTUBE …
YouTube is intent on squeezing its considerable bulk
into a whole new business territory, forcing pay-TV companies to budge
up as it stakes a claim to live sports-casting. The site is
aggressively pursuing ad revenue by streaming an entire season of the
explosively-popular short-form Indian Premier League cricket: Brylcreem
and Lebara Mobile have been snagged as sponsors in the UK. In contrast
with previous years, streaming of the championships will no longer be
blocked in countries where a TV deal is in place: YouTube’s deal
requires them simply to delay the stream by 5 minutes – and will offer
layers of interactivity – choices of camera angles, action replay on
demand – that TV can’t yet match.
In related news, YouTube has announced that banner ads will now be appearing on its various mobile sites,
beginning with Japanese and US home, browser and search pages. The
launch of the mobile sites resulted in a 160% increase in online video
streaming – and YouTube claims that it can now deliver one of the
mobile web’s biggest audiences.
BRANDS GET SOCIAL …
In a first for Microsoft, we hear Bing
is sponsoring weeknight showings of The Simpsons, in a three-month deal
worth a hefty £500,000. It’s tempting to speculate that the deal will
see “Doh!” replaced by “Bing!” – but I fear that can only end in
disappointment.
British Airways – anxious to avoid the reputation-crushing chaos that
has ensued during previous bouts of industrial action – has gone on the
social media offensive.
It’s using YouTube and Twitter to bombard customers with updates on the
strike situation – while simultaneously pushing its own case and
attempting to demolish that of Unite, the union with whom it is locked
in deadly combat.
Cadbury’s is tempting Creme Egg fans
with two free iPhone apps. ‘Scramble the Egg’ invites users to indulge
any urge they might harbour to shake a Creme Egg till it bursts; while
‘Egg Marks The Spot’ is a GPS-connected app which guides users to the
nearest landmark, then encourages them to take a photo, onto which will
be superimposed a Creme Egg.
The social media adventures of fashion goddess ASOS
are once again drawing admiring gasps: their ‘ASOS Follows Fashion’
Twitter aggregator gathers tweets from designers, photographers,
fashion journos and brands, the better to inform their discerning
fashion-forward followers.
Domino’s Pizza is the first brand to trial a new ‘Social Affiliate’ widget,
which allows anyone with a social network page to earn cash every time
a sale is generated via their web space, NetImperative reports. BL
Quantum, the agency which developed the tool, predicts brands will
benefit “by aligning with sites run by fans who are more likely to
drive a sale.”
Starbucks has launched a Foursquare promotion which will see coffee-lovin’ fans who visit their outlets rewarded with a Barista badge on the location-based mobile service.
Diesel is launching a campaign designed to mark out their space in social media. The initiative – an extension of the brand’s Be Stupid campaign – harnesses Twitter, FourSquare and Facebook.
UNDER THE GAVEL …
A high school student who asked a US court to reveal the identity of the sender of an allegedly libellous email
has had her application rejected. The anonymous email, which was sent
to the student’s school, alleged that she’d been drinking alcohol – in
contravention of a school pledge she’d taken. She petitioned to unmask
the email’s author, but the court ruled that Facebook pictures appeared
to confirm the allegations, and that therefore the sender could remain
anonymous.
More bad news for Yelp, the local review site, in the form of a second class-action suit alleging ‘extortion’.
The plaintiffs claim that the company attempted to ‘extort’ money from
enterprises, by offering to bury bad reviews if the company bought ad
space. One individual claims Yelp removed 13 positive reviews after she
refused to take out advertising – but Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman says
the case is without merit, and that the reviews were removed because
the business-owner had solicited them from family and friends.
Finally, both Google and Facebook are being pursued through the courts
by Winksite, which alleges that Facebook Mobile and Google Buzz are infringing their patent
relating to how mobile phone users access content on social networks.
The company wants cash, and an immediate order to prevent the two
networks using their invention.
SOCIAL STATS …
Consumers are not terribly keen
on paywalls, it’s fairly safe to say: an enormous 81 percent say they’d
plump for online ads if that meant free content, according to Pew
Research’s latest poll.
E-commerce is still growing, both in the UK and across the water: predictions for the British market are for 10% compound growth over the next five years, with a remarkably similar figure of 11% suggested by Forrester
in the US. While e-commerce generally managed to avoid the worst
ravages of the recession, it seems likely that the years of rampant
growth have passed.
E-tailers will be interested in Econsultancy’s new stats
on Twitter’s usefulness in driving sales: the company finds that, with
some notable exceptions, few UK consumer-facing brands think Twitter
deserves its hype: it seems that 20% to 30% of UK brands’ followers
aren’t even potential customers, but other businesses, or spammers.
But, while Twitter’s usefulness may still be unproven, social media is still high on the agenda for most brands. Unica’s survey
of 155 marketers in the US and Europe fond that 70% of them are already
using some form of social media, or plan to do so in the coming year.
VIRTUAL AND GAMES …
Sony is launching a new interface
for PlayStation 3’s virtual world Home – giving faster load times and
allowing users to navigate through levels without walking through the
3-d environment. Sony is clearly bullish about Home’s prospects – last
week they announced
that their stats had leapt from 5 to 12 million over the last year, and
that a healthy 85% of users who try the virtual world once will come
back for at least a second hit.
That’s all folks!
Homogenous media is dead, and in the exciting new world of hyper-individual experiences, it’s the consumer who sets the publishing agenda.
of social media by cities across Europe who are embracing digital media to tell stories about how they are reducing use of motorized transport.
Most commented