Vine grows like a weed, LinkedIn is lowering its age requirement, Facebook's big announcement plus strong ad performance for Q2, how WPP plans to take on its merged rivals, PR is just fine thank you, Millennials are annoyed at your slow response, the secret formula to a good content strategy and more, it's This Week in Social Media.
A roundup of relevant links affecting our industry.
Each week at Ford, I compose a newsletter that includes a series of links about current events and trends in the worlds of technology, social media, mobile, communications and marketing in order to keep the wider team up to date on changes, newsworthy items and content that might be useful in their jobs. These are those links.
If you have additional links, sources or ideas that might be helpful, I'd encourage you to add some via a comment below or tag me in Google+. And if you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links by subscribing to the This Week in Social Media Magazine, which is now available on the Web.
Industry
- According to a White House broadband report, there is a digital divide in the U.S., with only 71% of Americans subscribing to broadband at home, while it is available to 91%, with many youths being tech-savvy but computer illiterate (i.e., they're all over Twitter but don’t know how to save a Word document).
- Pay TV and broadband subscriptions are moving in the opposite direction.
- After the announcement of the Publicis-Omnicom merger, Sir Martin Sorrell takes us inside the playbook of how WPP will go after its larger rival.
- Last week's edition contained Tom Foremski's assertion that Google is forcing a reinvention of PR; this week comes PRWeek's response, which essentially is, "No, we're fine."
- With the increase of technology to block advertising - web browser ad-ons, legislation from Congress - what's the future of online advertising?
- How's your response time to the 18 to 34 year-old segment? I had better be quick, because Millennials are annoyed at a slow response, according to Havas Worldwide.
The Platforms
- Facebook is developing a program to bring Internet access to those who currently don't have it - some 4 billion people worldwide.
- Facebook's EdgeRank system has been replaced - with a machine-learning approach that takes into account about 100,000 different factors.
- Facebook’s 101 million US daily mobile users make up a whopping 78 of its 128 million daily US users. Facebook's increased concentration on mobile has resulted in a new and faster mobile login.
- And Facebook should be "Feeling Happy" about its ad performance in Q2: according to Kenshoo Social, clickthrough rates (CTR) were up 18.5%, cost-per-click (CPC) down 15.9%, conversions up 56.9% and revenue up 28.3%.
- Twitter is rolling out a related headlines feature that will make it easier to discover news by showing which sites have embedded tweets.
- Vine has grown to 40 million users, despite being challenged by Instagram.
- David Berkowitz opines: if marketers want to truly understand Vine, they need to consume Vine videos not just make them.
- And if you need help on how to make great Vine and Instagram videos, we've got you covered.
- LinkedIn is lowering its minimum age requirement - previously users had to be 18 years old; now the minimum age will be 13.
- In a seemingly related move, LinkedIn launched University Pages to help teens with their decisions to pursue higher education.
- LinkedIn has also launched Sponsored Updates to all users.
- Google+ has replaced Messenger on the iOS app with Hangouts, focusing on the integrated video chat capability.
- With only 5% penetration, the growth of Facebook in Asia is just starting. Some other global numbers:
- According to BITKOM, 78% of all web users in Germany ages 14 and older had a profile on at least one social network in 2013
- Twitter's rise in Mexico is being eclipsed by Facebook and LinkedIn
- Facebook penetration in the UK seems to be plateauing.
Measurement / Metrics / Big Data
- Executives are embracing real-time social apps for engagement around content. In addition to better engagement with their audiences, they noted better "stickiness" of websites as a result.
Legal / HR
- Google is phasing out its famous "20% time" in which employees were given one day a week to work on something outside of their usual jobs. Does this mean innovation is dead at Google?
Content
- Stop what you're doing and read this. It's essential if you work in marketing, communications or other content-related fields. It's How to: Create a Content Strategy (in Only 652 Easy Steps). "Whoa. This sounds really hard. And really complicated. That's because it is."
- Written largely for individuals, there are lessons for brands in 7 Ways to Be Insufferable on Facebook. Taking these suggestions to heart, we (consumers as well as brands) might be able to slow what some have called the decline of Facebook - although there are other factors at play as well.
- What one thing do the best brand publishers have in common? No, it's not a desire to be like Oreo. The formula is simple:
- Choose a topic that your core consumer is passionate about (extreme sports).
- Commit to that single topic.
- Own that topic better than anyone else (by doing things like livestreaming a daredevil jump from space).
Bookmark / Read / Watch Later
- Frank Eliason, the godfather of social customer care, has proclaimed that social media customer service is a failure.
- From GigaOm: Are we living in a golden age of journalism? That depends on how you define the gold.
Image credit: linda yvonne (Flickr)