"Still Think Social Media is a Fad?"

Erik Qualman of Socialnomics has put together a great video called "Social Media Revolution". Worth watching and then checking his datapoints and footnotes (a couple of which I included below): A couple interesting footnotes from Socialnomics:

#1. By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network #10. % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80% #13. 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices…people update anywhere, anytime…imagine what that means for bad customer experiences? #31. 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video…on their phone #32. According to Jeff Bezos 35% of book sales on Amazon are for the Kindle when available

iPhone is Flickr's #1 Camera; Soon to be Facebook's #1 Video

Mashable is reporting tonight that the iPhone is set to replace the Canon Rebel XTi as the #1 source of photographs on Flickr:

That smartphone, with its weak 2 MP camera and its lack of zoom, is now set to overtake Canon Rebel XTi as the #1 camera on Flickr. This is according to Flickr’s Camera Finder graphs. Actually, as the LA Times has already caught, the iPhone has already passed the Rebel XTi on a few occasions as the two duke it out for the top spot.

flickr-stats This shouldn't come as a surprise (price differential, convenience and ease of mobile uploading) - but it is noteworthy. As an owner of both the iPhone 3GS and the Canon Rebel - I can say that I too have found myself opting for convenience and mobility over artistic and picture quality.

As we all await Facebook's new iPhone App (which is setting in Apple's approval queue and enables mobile video uploads), we should expect the iPhone to quickly become the #1 source of video on Facebook - which is currently the tenth largest video provider on the web. It will be interesting to see just how much activity the iPhone / video integration produces and whether it is enough to advance Facebook beyond #10 (#9 AOL is 50% larger and #8 Hulu is over 2x).

Social Reputation on Twitter (Foursquare Screenshot)

A great screenshot from Twitter (via Tweetdeck's iPhone app) that shows the virality of Foursquare. I've spoken a lot about the power of conversation in the real-time web - but this is notable because it taps into the power and influence of social 'gaming', reputation and location-based activity. Within a couple minutes, two prominent Twitter users separately announced the transfer of Foursquare mayorship at a New York coffee shop... one was proud and one was defeated.

foursquare-viral By the way: if you do not already, I recommend following Jon Steinberg (@jonsteinberg) and Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) on Twitter.

Friendfeed is Facebook's Real Time Search?

Facebook today announced an acquisition of Friendfeed - getting an innovative, growing service (still small by Facebook standards: 1m users vs. Facebook's 250m) and, by all accounts, an exceptional team (comprised of ex-Googlers).

The twitter and blogosphere almost immediately and universally labeled the deal a talent acquisition. And while Facebook has indeed acquired a talented team (planning to disperse them through the organization), they also got two important product enhancements: real time search and filtering. I've said several times that I believe the next major progression for the real-time web is the ability for users to search, filter and determine authority / relevance. This is one of Friendfeed's strengths. And it is an area where they can instantly help Facebook - with thinking, product, data, etc. If the social web is (at least in part) predicated on conversation, the acquisition will help facilitate discussion by reducing noise and increasing relevancy. And if revenue opportunities exist within those conversations (just ask Starbucks and other active brands), search and filtering will play a role on the advertising and data side.

The Power of Social Recommendations

It's no surprise that social recommendations work - they are based on connections, shared interests, references, etc. I've written many times that I believe conversation - enabling it, aggregating it, filtering it and applying authority / relevancy - is where the real-time-web's great value is derived. An example from last night that: - proves the power of network-based sourcing (and demonstrates the size and robustness of Facebook) - validates the missions of certain companies (like Aardvark for instance) - likely frightens players in the recommendation space who are not innovating - and raises a series of other questions (more below)

Last night, in a bit of a scheduling bind, I was trying to secure a nice Napa hotel for a post-wedding weekend getaway (between our belated honeymoon later in the year). After spending a few moments unsuccessfully researching highly rated hotels online... I found nothing. After calling a couple friends directly, I still had no leads. So I posed the question on Facebook and received 10+ lengthy, trusted responses in a couple hours. The quality of the responses far exceeded anything I found online because it came from trusted sources, was articulate, qualified and timely.

The questions out of this experience: - in which verticals does it work and, depending on the space, how does the depth of experience change? - how can this content be archived and search? - if this list is truly better than Citysearch's Top 10 Guide - how can is it made available in relevant ways outside of my network? - can Facebook Connect enable the same experience and quality for sites off-Facebook? - what role does Twitter play a role here considering that it is a public network?

facebook-hotel-recommendations

Man vs. Food Uses Facebook Ads, Video & Poll to Kick Off New Season

Last week, I wrote about Starbuck's using Facebook Polls and Facebook's Top Pages (both all-time and daily growth). Here is another example of a rich, interactive campaign through Facebook: Travel Channel's Man vs. Food. The new Man vs. Food season begins tonight - and in preparation, the Travel Channel is running a major campaign through Facebook that includes:

- Sponsored ads - RSVPs and calendaring for the season premier - Interactive polls related to the food challenge - High-quality video trailers with in-video ability to "like" I am really impressed by the video quality - which is outstanding and runs smoothly and without any interruption. It is also the first time that I have noticed an ability to "like" from within the video.

Has it worked? The Man vs. Food fan page now has ~60,000 fans and tonight's RSVP has had another ~60,000 responses.

man-vs-food-rsvp

The inclusion of friends' names who also have RSVP'd gives the advertisement a more personal, communal feel.

man-vs-food-poll

Not exactly an impactful, insightful poll (or set of data) - but it is engaging, grabs the eye and led me to play the video.

man-vs-food-video

The video quality is fantastic.

man-vs-food-like-video

And the ability to "like" the video while watching it makes it viral by appears within my news feed.

Top Facebook Pages: All-Time vs. Today's Top Gainers

InsideFacebook's PageData tool is useful in understanding trends in Facebook usage, marketing and pop-culture. It is also a powerful way to track a brand's success on Facebook - and if they are engaging in marketing efforts, a way to track the efficacy of that campaign. Compare the top 15 Facebook pages of all-time and of the last 24 hours (measured by total fans and fans added, respectively). Notice that the major difference between the two lists is the mix of brands vs. celebrities: facebook-gainers

All-time Leaderboard: 4 brands (Facebook, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, YouTube); (Mafia Wars & South Park could also be considered)

Today's Top Gainers: 7 brands (Ralph Lauren, Kohl's, Harry Potter, Kellog's Pop-Tarts, Facebook, Herbal Essences, A Perfect Getaway); (Mafia Wars, Sooty & Sweep and Texas Hold'em could also be considered)

Not only are there more brands in today's top 15 Facebook pages, but Ralph Lauren and Kohl's represent the top two positions and 47% of the new fans added. It suggests that:

- users have a natural, organic affinity for celebrities (not shocking - 6 of top 7 pages are celebs) - brands are experimenting on Facebook and are increasingly focused in engaging fans (also not shocking) - marketing plays a significant role in Facebook page growth. Ralph Lauren, Kohl's, Pop Tarts and the Perfect Getaway (an upcoming movie) are likely engaged in on-Facebook advertising campaigns

It will be interesting to revisit data for these Ralph Lauren, Kohl's and Pop-Tarts and see if these bursts in usage equate to long-term, organic user-growth.

Bitly + Twitter Has Driven 350,000 views to Youtube's JK Wedding

In less than a week, Youtube's hit video "JK Wedding Entrance Dance" has been viewed over seven million times (and nearly 1.5m times in the last 24 hours). So what does that look like on the real-time web? And how much traffic have Bit.ly and Twitter sent?

One of the reasons I love Bit.ly is because of its transparency and ability to deliver meaningful analytics. For a given URL, you can see a page's real time traffic, referrals and geographic usage (all of which originated with a Bitly URL).

350,000 of the JK Wedding's 7m views arrived from Bitly alone. That is 5% of the video's views.

jk-wedding-youtube Even as the video's virality slows down, that is still 25-50 clicks per minute:

jk-wedding-clicks-per-minute

And Twitter.com represented over half of the traffic. Facebook was only 20,000 visits (but the video of course can be embedded directly into Facebook - Bitly's normal use case on Facebook is through the Twitter app integration):

jk-wedding-referrals

Proof enough that this video was a viral hit: it collected 5,000+ Diggs and over 800 retweets on Tweetmeme... and that is from a Youtube embed off Youtube.com (outspokenmedia.com).

jk-wedding-digg

Another Opportunity to Learn from Starbucks & Facebook

I write a lot about Starbucks and their social media activity - in part because I drink a lot of their coffee and in part because they are one of the best big brands doing it on the web (don't just take my word for it...). By following Starbucks on Facebook (and Twitter to a lesser degree) you get a sense for: - how a big brand uses social media - how users engage / interact with the brand - how Facebook plays a role in that engagement / interaction The below example showcases Starbucks' integration a new Facebook poll within the feed. While the question is very insightful, the poll is clearly a powerful way to collect targetted feedback and data. Within 24 minutes, Starbucks collected 1,600+ comments, 2,250+ likes and 1,000s of votes.

Equally important, it showcases the types of products that Facebook is working on to help brands connect with users (similarly, Facebooks Ads now integrate ways to drive fans and create polls). Ultimately, advertisers will pay for a fans, engagement, data, etc than for a standard click or pageview:

starbucks-facebook-poll