Social Media News 3/29/10

It’s iPad Week. The new Apple tablet will begin shipping this week, and iPad has been at the center of a media frenzy. The articles below are what I found most interesting in iPad news, including speculation about Apple’s mobile advertising platform called iAd, and rumors that Best Buy will stock the iPad later this week (if only a very small supply of them…).

In early February, Google announced a new endeavor to build an experimental fiber network and asked state, county and city officials across the US to respond to a RFI to be a part of the program. The selected communities would be eligible to become partners with Google in building the new broadband network. Everyday citizens were invited to participate by nominating their community for consideration. The deadline for responses was last Friday, and Google announced this week that they received over 1,100 official applications.  You can learn more about the project at Google Fiber for Communities.

Just when you thought you knew all the ins and outs of Facebook, Facebook changes something. This week, Facebook sent a memo to advertisers that “Become A Fan” will change to “Like” within Facebook ads and Fan Pages. The decision to change apparently comes from data testing “Like” buttons against “Become A Fan” buttons within Facebook ad units, in which users were twice as likely to click on the former. When this goes into effect, users that click “Like” on a Facebook ad will become a Fan of that advertiser’s Page and receive News Feed updates. There could be a very large backlash from users on this change (after all, there’s always some kind of backlash when anything changes on Facebook.) The question is, will users blame Facebook, or blame the advertisers?  See the memo from Facebook, or read this article from RWW.

iPad Week

MTV Developing ‘Co-Viewing’ Apps for the iPad – AdAge

iPad Out to Prove Itself as Gaming Platform, but Will Users Play Along? – AdAge

iPad App Store Preview Leaks: App CoverFlow – Fast Company

Apple posts up iPad Guided Tours… lots of Guided Tours – Engadget

Best Buy’s iPad supply: 15 per store – CNNMoney.com

Apple’s iAd Could Bite a Chunk Out of Google’s Mobile Ad Business – Fast Company

Social Media: Strategy

Viral Complexity (a review of ROI from 2009′s most viral videos) – Brandweek

Social Media Boosts E-Mail Marketing – Brandweek

Lessons From Leno and Twitter Bombers: 3 Rules for Next-Gen Marketing – Fast Company

The Two Most Important Questions in Social Media Marketing – Ignite Social Media

Social Media: Consumer Electronics

This Is What Cars Might Look Like On Your Next Kindle – Gizmodo

Android Devices Crave Google’s Attention - Wired

CTIA End-of-Convention Roundup: Android, 4G, and Even More Android – Fast Company

LinkedIn for BlackBerry Released [SCREENSHOTS] – Mashable

Digital Advertising

What Type Of Social Media Ads Are The Most Effective? – MediaPost

Apple’s iAd Could Bite a Chunk Out of Google’s Mobile Ad Business – Fast Company

Do You Like Us Or Like Like Us? “Become A Fan” Changing To “Like” On Facebook – RWW

Internet Trends

Facebook Will Rule the Web During the Next Decade – AdAge

Google Receives More Than 1,100 Official Applications for Fiber Broadband Network – Fast Company

Gowalla + Foursquare + Brightkite + Yelp + Google Maps=Checkin Mania – Fast Company

Social Media News 3/22/10

I read about a really interesting study reported by ReadWriteWeb about influence and the number of followers you have on Twitter.  Per the research findings, the number of followers you have on Twitter is an almost completely irrelevant metric for measuring influence. Read the RWW recap here, and see the actual report here.

Facebook hasn’t formally announce this yet, but the company has began to send weekly emailed reports on Facebook page metrics to their respective page admins. These reports include only metrics that are currently available to admins, so the weekly reports serve more as reporting summaries than anything else. Read more about this story at MediaPost.

Apple began to accept pre-orders for the iPad last Friday, with the promise that the first iPads will be arriving in the first week of April.  Rumor has it that over a hundred thousand  iPads have been pre-ordered, and some are speculating that more iPads will be sold in the first three months than iPhones sold in its debut. With all the attention the iPad is drawing, some are wondering if an iPad Killer is emerging… could it come from Palm? Or from HP?

YouTube and Viacom are in the mists of a copyright lawsuit, which has revealed a few embarrassing details about both companies in recently unsealed court filings.  Among other interesting tid bits, Viacom had tried to buy YouTube just before Google’s acquisition was finalized. Read more of the story here.

Social Media: Strategy

Will B2B Companies Embrace Social Media in 2010? – MediaPost

10 Essential Social Media Tips for B2B Marketers – Mashable

Making Social Media Connections, Budgets and ROI – MediaPost

The Million Follower Fallacy: Audience Size Doesn’t Prove Influence on Twitter – RWW

PCH Unveils Sweepstakes Social Media Service For All – MediaPost

Facebook Starts Weekly Email Reports For Page Administrators – MediaPost

5 Things You Need to Know About Location-Based Social Media - Mashable

Social Media: Consumer Electronics

Palm’s phone sales slump and its stock dives - Associated Press

Smartphones not enough for carriers at CTIA – Reuters

‘iPad Killer’ May be Palm’s Last Hope – PC World

Digital Advertising

iPad subscriptions could boost mag circulation – Associated Press

Google: Dynamic Data And Social Features Can Save Display Ads – MediaPost

Google Maps Test Ads in Australia – Mashable

Internet Trends

WordPress Guns for Web Content Management Duties – PC World

Facebook News Readers More Loyal Than Googlers – News Factor

Nintendo’s Miyamoto wants Wii in schools – TG Daily

Google Bringing The Web To TV? – MediaPost

Foursquare Adds Almost 100,000 Users in 10 Days – Mashable

Internet Law

Viacom, YouTube air dirty laundry in legal battle - Associated Press

The juicy details behind the Viacom-YouTube lawsuit – USA Today

When Your Trademark Becomes the Key to Your Competitor’s Internet Ad – MediaPost

Google May Leave China on April 10 – Mashable

My blog post about iPad (because every blogger has one)

Apple iPad

I’ve been trying really hard not to write a blog post about iPad- simply because the bloggersphere is absolutely flooded with iPad blog posts and everyone has an opinion. Alas, I am weak. I need to get this out of my system. I have just two points that I want to make, and I’ll do my best to keep it short.

Point #1

The iPad is not like other eReaders. Many observers and critics believe that the iPad will be a huge threat to Kindle and Nook. Even if Apple does land a deal with Harper Collins and even though Apple will allow publishers to control the pricing of eBooks, there is just one little nagging feature about the iPad that makes me believe that it won’t draw crowds of eBookworms overnight… the iPad’s LED screen.

Ever wonder why Nook and Kindle seem to have a bland, black and white, 1980′s type of electronic screen? It’s because the technology behind this digital display is known as eInk. The screens in the Kindle, Nook and other eReaders are designed to have a low res screen that does not support animation and has a very low refresh rate. This is to reduce eye strain.

The iPad is equipped with an LED screen, a standard for notebooks. So while the iPad will support eBooks, the biggest consumers of eBooks (those eBookworms) are likely going to stick with devices that are most comfortable for long periods of reading. The iPad is nice for magazine browsing, where color is important for flashy photos and rich content. But for those people that buy the most eBooks, the iPad will not replace a conventional eReader.

Bottom line: the iPad is not an eReader category killer.

Point #2

The iPad is not like other Netbooks and Tablets. A Netbook is a slimmed down laptop PC meant for basic computing and generally runs on web-based applications. They are small, light weight, and generally inexpensive. The WiFi enabled iPads can be considered as Netbooks, given that the iPad will primarily be used to access the web and Apple Apps. Also, many Netbooks do not have conventional hard drives, and the iPad is like these devices because it only contains a solid-state flash drive.

A Tablet PC is a slim laptop with a touch-screen interface. Some can be used with or without a stylus, and all Tablets can function without a physical keyboard (Tablets that have keyboards are called hybrids or convertibles). Most of the Tablets currently on the market run Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. This operating system is everything that Windows XP is, with additional features that support a tablet, such as pen sensitivity. So any program compatible with Windows XP will work on a tablet running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

In a sense, the iPad is trying to be both a Netbook and a Tablet, but it is not really good at being either of those things. The iPad operating system is based on the iPhone OS, not the Mac OS. This creates a lot of limitations, especially with productivity and creating. Many have called the iPad a giant iPhone, and this is why: The main purpose of the iPad is to run Apps.

If you’re looking for a Netbook, I’d say skip the iPad and wait for the Chrome Tablet. The folks over at Google have been working on the Chrome OS, known to be part of the Chromium Project. The goal is to develop an open-source operating system built with the web at the core, instead of a computer hard drive. It’s the cloud computing OS, and most ideal for a Netbook, which is why I believe the Chrome Tablet would be superior to iPad for this purpose.

Now if you’re looking for a Tablet, the question is “why?”  Is it to have a productive mobile computer, or is it because you want a toy? I believe the iPad is a toy, it is really cool and very flashy- perfect for those long commutes on the train. I want one, I’ve been drooling over this device since its big reveal. But it’s not something that would help me be a better and more efficient Interactive Producer.  For word processing, spreadsheets, and project management, a Tablet that runs Windows XP, though not as sexy, would help me get the job done.

Bottom line: The iPad is not a revolutionary Netbook or Tablet PC device.

What’s your take on the iPad? If you think I’ve got it all wrong, leave a comment and tell me about it.

Social Media News 2/1/10

Apple’s iPad was the biggest news last week, drawing attention from every corner of the web. Within minutes of the announcement, hype turned into hysterics as the jokes started pouring in. Apparently #iTampon was the third most trending topic that evening. Many see the Maxi- I mean iPad as a huge threat to existing eBooks like the Kindle. I’m not so sure about that. Yes the iPad has a full color LED display, but one very important feature of a true eBook is eInk. This is a low res, black and white display with a low refresh rate that reduces eye strain, making the screen more like reading printed paper. To me the iPad is like a glossy magazine, but the Kindle is like a simple black and white novel. The bookworms that consume the most eBook content are going to stick with Kindle, and the iPad will appeal to people looking for a Netbook first, eBook second.

Interested in measuring ROI from your Facebook efforts? That’s about to become a little easier when Facebook rolls out its new conversion tracking tool. Facebook announced the upcoming feature at last week’s OMMA Social event in San Francisco. MediaPost embedded video from the discussion on this article.

Proctor & Gamble is officially in favor of social media marketing, embracing Facebook in particular and encouraging its brands to do the same. I found it interesting that in the article reporting on this topic, AdAge felt it was necessary to quote Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation for P&G, with contradictory remarks from 2008. This one caught my eye:

“Who said this is media?” he said. “Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.”

With this quote AdAge is perhaps trying to demonstrate a riff in P&G’s ranks, though the remarks were said over a year ago and I have the suspicion that it may have been out of context. Whether McConnell supports social media marketing or not, this is a great quote with a lot of truth behind it. We can’t treat social media as advertising, it’s an entirely different kind of game. Ignite’s Jim Tobin was on the same wavelength in a recent Web Trends episode when he said, ”The web is the worst place in the world for interrupting people.”  I couldn’t agree more.

Facebook

P&G Embraces Facebook as Big Part of Its Marketing Plan – AdAge

Facebook Now Has Yahoo In Its Sites, Already Bigger In Pageviews (ComScore) – Tech Crunch

Facebook Develops Conversion Tracking Tool: What’s A Fan Worth? – MediaPost

Why Your Boss Hates Facebook – ReadWriteWeb

Baby Boomers and Seniors Are Flocking to Facebook [STATS] – Mashable

Foursquare

Does Foursquare Have A Douchebag Problem? - Tech Crunch

Will Foursquare’s Users Say ‘Bravo’ for Bravo? - ReadWriteWeb

Social Media: Strategy

Web Trends Talks Social Media Marketing with Jim Tobin [VIDEO] - Ignite Social Media

MediaPost’s OMMA Social SF 2010 [VIDEO] - MediaPost

Social Media: Consumer Electronics

Apple IPad Charges at Kindle and Netbooks – AdAge

Apple vs. Amazon: The Great E-book War Has Already Begun – Mashable

Firefox for Mobile Makes Its Debut – Mashable

AT&T Will Spend $2 Billion To Improve Wireless Network – Mashable

Digital Advertising

Study: Consumers Are Not Annoyed by Ads on Facebook – AdAge

Why Most Digital Ads Still Fail to Work – AdAge

Internet Trends

Apple’s Tablet and the New Splintered Web – AdAge

Proof the Splinternet is real – Groundswell

Google Exec: We’re Here to Help Newspapers – AdAge

Yahoo and the AP Reach a New Deal – But What About Google? – ReadWriteWeb