Key digital trends for 2013, the Twitter IPO, Instagram is getting ads, tweeting rumors in China could land you in jail, smartphone statistics, how brands are using social data, stop copying Oreo, the two videos that captured our collective attention 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. 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
- In just 8 short years, social sharing by online adults is up by over 800%.
- Defamation can get you in trouble in China: tweeting rumors can land you in jail. Related: a fascinating insider's look at being a censor for Sina Weibo.
- Smartphone and tablet use in urban Thailand has taken off in 2013.
- Meanwhile, the U.S. market share of smartphones continues to consolidate between leaders Apple and Android, squeezing Blackberry and Windows out.
- Related: smartphones and tablets account for half of U.S. adults' time online.
- From the botched priorities department: more global companies cite lead generation over branding as their primary aim in social.
- Key Digital Trends for Q3 2013 identifies measurement and attribution as the top priorities for marketers.
The Platforms
- Twitter is rolling out a feature that allows Verified users to sort through their mentions in categories labeled All, Filtered and Verified in an effort to create an easier user experience. This is particularly important for brands, which typically have a higher degree of mentions than average users.
- With a single tweet, Twitter announced it is filing for an IPO.
We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.
— Twitter (@twitter) September 12, 2013
- In the lead-up to the announcement, Twitter purchased MoPub, a service that allows real-time bidding for social ads.
- In Romania, Coca-Cola is the first brand to integrate live tweets with advertising.
- Speaking of social ads, Instagram, with more than 150 million monthly users, will have advertising starting next year.
- NASA has joined Instagram. Houston, we have some amazing images.
- Storify was acquired by Livefire, meaning that journalists and brands will have better engagement with curated content.
- Facebook is making a play for more social TV as it gives broadcasters news outlets the ability to integrate Facebook conversations and comments into their broadcasts.
- Which global markets are a priority for Facebook? The answer may surprise you.
- Looking at the relationship between paid and organic Facebook posts: do paid posts cannibalize the reach of organic posts?
Measurement / Metrics / Big Data
Legal / HR
- While LinkedIn may be powerful for the 1:1 connections, it's still important to use the Company Page feature for brand building, announcements, storytelling and to allow others to more quickly connect to your company.
Content
- As sponsored content and native advertising grows and the need to integrate the practices of PR and marketing, publishers are enlisting editorial staff for advertisements.
Bookmark / Read / Watch Later
- Trends in digital marketing from an Econsultancy report: the need for better integration, use of centralized teams (hub) for strategy and local/divisional teams (spokes) for execution, bringing key functions in-house, and moving from effectiveness to efficiency.
- Key advice for CMOs and chief digital officers with respect to their CEOs.
- Why VCs are lining up to back Whisper, the secret sharing app.
- We all know that Oreo's Super Bowl tweet was an extraordinary success; brands need to stop emulating them and simply do what's right for their audiences.
Commentary
What makes a video go viral? Two recent examples have captured a good deal of attention, and they couldn't be more different. There are core human elements that are common to each of them.The first is the near-instant hit "The Fox" by the sibling comedy troupe Ylvis. Posted on September 3, the video is up to over 22 million views at the time of writing. The electronic thumping, nursery rhyme-inspired question that it asks, and cross-language appeal made it an instant hit. The ultimate arbiter: our desire to share something funny and upbeat.
The other example is far more serious yet no less interesting. Matthew Cordle made a YouTube video in which he confessed to killing a man. Despite his lawyers telling him that he could get off by lying, he said that he couldn't do that and that he wanted to do the right thing, so he would be admitting his guilt and accepting the responsibility for his actions.
In this case, rather than going for humor or even raw shock value, Mr. Cordle is taking a stand and displaying courage and accountability. While the video can serve as a public service announcement about the real impact of drunk driving, it also provides a glimpse into our legal system and represents the need for perhaps a more important public service announcement: a call for honesty and integrity amid a pervasive culture of evasiveness and blame.
Two videos appealing to human nature at its core.