Erik Qualman's Blog, page 688

Pippa Middleton: 260 Fan Pages and Growing…

Back in May Erik wrote about the Facebook page dedicated to Pippa Middleton's Tush, at that time it had 215,000 LIKEs, now it has over 233,000 LIKEs, plus there are another 260 Facebook pages dedicated to her!  Interestingly of the pages dedicated to Pippa only 2 are about hating her….

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The glamorous Pippa Middleton

 

The Pippa phenomenon is HUGE, with over 7 million results for her on Google.  Yes, she is the sister of the potential future queen of England, but really?  To put it into context her sister Kate has 86 million results on Google, but about the same number of Facebook pages – many of which she shares with William.

There are also numerous blogs about Pippa, the top one – www.philippamiddleton.org has only been going for 2 months and already ranks in the top 1.5% of all websites according to Hubspot!

Admittedly Pippa herself (as far as I can see) hasn't done anything to encourage all this celebrity attention, unless you count the fact that she dresses well and numerous rather raunchy photos have been dug up – but then at that time she didn't know that her sister would marry William.

Pippa Middleton

The ease of which ANYONE can become a celebrity or expert in the world of social media is crazy.  Looking at all the Pippa content, there are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon to make a quick buck out of being a Pippa expert!  The blog I mentioned before is FULL and I mean FULL of ad's not just those down the side of the page but also links in the text.

What do you think of the celebrity bandwagon?  Do you think good on you, I wish I'd thought of that?  Or do you think, what on earth are people so excited about?

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Are You Pippa Crazy?

Back in May Erik wrote about the Facebook page dedicated to Pippa Middleton's Tush, at that time it had 215,000 LIKEs, now it has over 233,000 LIKEs, plus there are another 260 Facebook pages dedicated to her!  Interestingly of the pages dedicated to Pippa only 2 are about hating her….

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The glamorous Pippa Middleton

 

The Pippa phenomenon is HUGE, with over 7 million results for her on Google.  Yes, she is the sister of the potential future queen of England, but really?  To put it into context her sister Kate has 86 million results on Google, but about the same number of Facebook pages – many of which she shares with William.

There are also numerous blogs about Pippa, the top one – www.philippamiddleton.org has only been going for 2 months and already ranks in the top 1.5% of all websites according to Hubspot!

Admittedly Pippa herself (as far as I can see) hasn't done anything to encourage all this celebrity attention, unless you count the fact that she dresses well and numerous rather raunchy photos have been dug up – but then at that time she didn't know that her sister would marry William.

Pippa Middleton

The ease of which ANYONE can become a celebrity or expert in the world of social media is crazy.  Looking at all the Pippa content, there are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon to make a quick buck out of being a Pippa expert!  The blog I mentioned before is FULL and I mean FULL of ad's not just those down the side of the page but also links in the text.

What do you think of the celebrity bandwagon?  Do you think good on you, I wish I'd thought of that?  Or do you think, what on earth are people so excited about?

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Startup Spotlight: bre.ad

 

In my recent scouring for new and cool startups, I happened to come across a fascinating new tool called bre.ad. I am always on the lookout for new marketing resources, and bre.ad certainly is an interesting way to generate awareness.

The concept is simple. It lets you create a digital billboard on facebook and twitter, to promote anything you want (products, causes, content, etc).  This billboard is visible to friends and followers for a few seconds after they click on a link created by the bre.ad shortener. After the billboard disappears, it will take the user to the intended url.

It's a great idea and they have done a fantastic job of creating a non-invasive form of reaching audiences (the billboards come and go quickly). Non Profits- and Political candidates may find bre.ad especially useful in helping expand their brand awareness with poignant and effective "billboards". The timing seems to be perfect, as the displays vanish after just a couple seconds making the displays appear more novel and than anything else.

A video explaining Bre.ad:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaO0Ak3Cb8g

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Wicked Tornado Video Footage

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An EF-3 Tornado tracks from West Springfield across North End Bridge & Memorial Bridge into downtown Springfield.

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Water siphoned up and mixes with debris. Western Massachusetts hit by 3 tornadoes June 1st, 2011; thus far 4 deaths.

Footage is from CBS-3 remote operated camera atop a building- hence no sound.

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Health insurer using social media to address out-of-control costs

What's the biggest complaint I hear about insurance companies? Cost. Premiums are too high, and not enough is covered. And, it's always the insurance company's fault. Well, we hear you. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) is taking a new approach to the rising costs of medical services. Instead of hiding from the public, hoping we don't get a call, we're making ourselves vulnerable. We're asking North Carolinians to tell us their thoughts, frustrations and ideas on all things related to health care costs, and we're addressing them head on. How are we doing this? Social media. Yes, you read that correctly. An insurance company is using social networks to reach the people who are passionate about health care and out-of-control costs.

In April, we launched www.LetsTalkCost.com, a website dedicated to sharing ideas on how to rein in medical costs. The site is split into six categories, each featuring an industry contributing to the cost of health care: insurers, attorneys, doctors, hospitals, individuals and pharmaceuticals. In each category, you can start a conversation by posting a thought or question, sharing an idea on an existing post or providing a follow-up comment to thoughts shared by other community members, including BCBSNC. Company leaders are monitoring the site themselves and responding to the community because they know social media is an important link to better understand our customers' needs, concerns and sentiments around the skyrocketing health care costs. We have had over 1300 comments on conversations ranging from communicating electronically with doctors to health insurer profits.

Social media probably isn't the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of an insurance company; but we know our customers are there sharing ideas already. So, why not reach them on their own turf? Even the "hard-to-reach," "never-responsive" insurance companies know social media is changing the way we interact and make decisions. Our hope is to connect with our customers through open and honest conversations on www.LetsTalkCost.com, to better understand what is on our customers' minds, respond directly to their concerns and share ideas for solutions. After all, that's what we're all seeking, right?

So, what do you think of the Let's Talk Cost website?

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Television Goes Social!

If you've been watching television the last few months, you may have noticed the abundance of hashtags on your television screen. Television networks are starting to recognize the impact that Twitter has on television viewers.  As a result, networks are starting to display hashtags on televisions screens during your favorite shows.  These hashtags are a way for networks to promote their shows on Twitter, grow their audience, and reach out to Twitter users who may not already be active television viewers. It creates buzz around certain shows and sparks conversations that normally might not occur. In addition, it allows networks to get immediate feedback on their shows: what viewers like, what they don't like, what drives viewers, and what is most talked about. For shows such as Glee and American Idol, which are often already a part of Twitter's trending topics, hashtags on the television screen help to aggregate posts and ensure that viewers are using the show's official Twitter hashtags. Below, we explore some shows that have tried this and the impact that it has had:

#TrumpRoast

Back in March, Comedy Central started the hashtag trend during the Roast of Donald Trump. Comedy Central announced that thanks to #TrumpRoast, the Roast of Donald Trump became its most watched show in history. The hashtag was used more than 27,000 during its 1 hour telecast.

 

#Glee

Since Glee is already a hot topic on Twitter, #Glee was displayed on television screens in order to more efficiently aggregate tweets by encouraging users to tweet using the official hashtag rather than hashtags such as #Gleek or #Gleeks.

 

#CNNtv

During the Royal Wedding, CNN displayed #CNNtv on television screens in addition to featuring tweets from users that utilize this hashtag. Twitter announced that when Prince William arrived at the Westminster Abbey, #CNNtv mentions spiked at 252 tweets per minute.

 

#TheVoice

The Voice features four judges who all have a Twitter following of over 100,000. During the East Coast premiere of the show, each host tweeted using #TheVoice and some of their top tweets were displayed on television screens across the country. The night of the premiere, The Voice won in the 18-49 demographic with a 5.1 Nielson rating. It was NBC's strongest premiere since The Jay Leno Show (says TVbytheNumbers).

 

Have you seen hashtags on the television screen during your favorite show? Have you tuned in to a show because you noticed the hashtag on Twitter? Let us know in the comments!

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Tech Bubble 2.0? Not So Fast

The wildly successful Linkedin IPO has almost instantaneously made Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of Linkedin, a paper billionaire – twice over. No less dramatically, it has provided pundit wind bags with a fresh breath of hot air to blow across the sphere of media.

The lofty valuation of LinkiedIn has led some in the industry to compare the company with the likes of memorable dot com era failures that have become synonymous with the tech bubble of the late nineties and early years of the new millennium.

Some names may still raise hairs on the backs of investors that took huge losses, becoming victims of over-inflated growth expectations. Webvan.com, which was valued at $6 billion after its IPO in 1999 – collapsed about a year and a half later. Pets.com raised $82.5 million in its IPO during 2000, and was insolvent within nine months. Even Netscape, which had their IPO surrounded by great expectations, never lived up to the hype and was eventually phased out of use.

These prodigious collapses provide ideal case studies to examine market conditions at the time of the tech bubble, but supply few valid comparisons with LinkedIn or the current state of the technology sector.

In 1999 and 2000, at the peak of the tech stock hysteria, a company that had yet to turn a profit or in some instances even generate any amount of positive revenue, was able to hold a well subscribed initial public offering, as investors were all too eager to buy into a promising upstart – providing a company with considerable amounts of cash and resources.

Ultimately, these upstart prospects quickly became fledgling suspects, forced to file for bankruptcies as they were unable to generate meaningful revenue streams to finance operations.

Linkedin is Different

LinkedIn saw revenue of $243.1 million in 2010, and net income of $15.4 million. The social network had a 110% increase in revenue growth in the first quarter of 2011 (yoy). Additionally, they've got 100 million registered users and three separate sources of revenue: hiring solutions, advertisements, and premium subscriptions.

Whether these fundamentals warrant a $9 billion valuation is debatable. However, implying that a lofty valuation for this particular tech company reflects a more broad tech-market bubble – is in my opinion unjustified and moreover misrepresents the fundamental investing flaws that played a key role in the inflation of the tech-bubble.

In the two year time-span between 1999 and 2000, more than 800 tech companies were priced. Compare that with only 45 tech company offerings in 2010. The current pace in 2011 indicates offerings will likely exceed that of the prior year, but fall tremendously short of the dot com era rate. This lends credence to the argument that today we find ourselves in a completely different market environment than that of 2000.

This isn't the First Time Market Commentators have Cried Wolf

Google's 2004 IPO valued the company at $23 billion, a number that pundits were quick to note made the search giant larger in terms of market value than General Motors – a name synonymous with American industry. It was derided as the re-emergence of over inflated growth expectations – 'Tech-Bubble 2.0′.

Google stock turned out to be a great investment. Though this success is hardly prophetical of how well LinkedIn buyers will fair – it is a testament to the general inability of forecasters to assign accurate valuations.

One blindingly obvious take away from this IPO is that market participants clearly want a piece of LinkedIn. Does that mean you should buy too? At it's current valuation, it's certainly not a low risk stock and may not be ideal for investors with smaller risk thresholds.

The New Frontier in Social Networks – Shmish.com



As the founder of a recently launched social media website, my biased opinion is that smaller, more intimate social networks that focus specifically on one discipline will prove to be the wave of the future. That's why I believe that Shmish! – which is a niche social news site dedicated entirely to the field of finance – will prove to be a destination for those looking not just to read news, but to be involved in the process of news.

Instead of allowing major financial news conglomerates to decide which articles should be featured on a financial news site – ordinary users make those editorial decisions on Shmish. Together, the Shmish community decides the stories of most relevance by voting for articles they enjoy. This puts low budget financial bloggers and well-financed media empires on level ground. The community's highest voted finance related stories are featured most prominently on the site. Period.

Getting Involved is Easy

Registered users can take any link (URL) of a finance related story, throw that link into the Shmish submission box, and see an automatically generated title and brief description ready for submission. The user then categorizes it and clicks submit – it's that simple.

How a visitor chooses to utilize Shmish is a matter of preference. One may be interested in viewing breaking news as opposed to the most popular news, so they'll toggle over to the 'most recent' news page.

'My Page' is another way Shmish aims to make the site more user-friendly. This is a page where you can save articles, view all the comments you've made on any comment thread, see all of the articles that you have submitted on the site, or take a look at what your followers and following have been submitting.

Why just read the news? Be a part of the news making process. Register on Shmish!.

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Social Media Revolution Video 2011

Since I was giving a keynote following Al Gore this week I thought it an appropriate time to produce a new Social Media Revolution video below. Hope it helps your efforts!

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Two B2B Rockstars in Social Media

From personal experience I can say that implementing social media for a B2B is far from simple. It takes way more effort than for a B2C. For example, people are way more likely to "like" or "follow" a brand like Burberry or Gucci because they love their clothes. But how likely are they to follow a marketing agency or tech service? A little harder, right? That's why I commend companies such as Hubspot and Forrester who not only kick butt company wise, but demonstrate that B2Bs can also be awesome in their social media efforts.

1. Hubspot

Hubspot totally rocks it on both Facebook and Twitter. They make it so their posts and Tweets are not only informative to their target audience but also friendly…aka, human!

They share webinars, blog posts, events, and more. Basically Hubspot has figured out what their target audience wants and needs and gives it to their audience from each medium, so their consumers can digest the information from the vehicle they prefer…whether it's Facebook, a RSS feed, Twitter, or whatever else.

 

2. Forrester

Forrester Research, like Hubspot has realized the benefit of truly engaging with their target market. They do not just post and Tweet, and throw information at people like spam. They provide not only relevant information, but they take the time to comment, reply, question, and truly engage with the people who follow them on their social media platforms.

As seen below on Twitter and above on their Facebook Page, Forrester is showing numbers can be reached even with a B2B. However, don't judge a "book by its cover" or a "brand by its #." I've learned that some of the most engaging and best brands don't necessarily have the best #s. However, they have a loyal following, and repeat customers one day lead to future customers. So learn from Hubspot, and Forrester, and realize that even B2Bs can be leaders in the social media space. It's not just about B2Cs anymore…

 

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10 WOW Social Media Statistics

Relevant Social Media Statistics for 2011

1. Over 50% of the world's population is under 30-years-old

2. In 10 years over 40% of the Fortune 500 will no longer be here

3. Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web

4. Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.

5. 1 in 5 couples meet online; 3 in 5 gay couples meet online

6. 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook

7. What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…

8. 2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction

9. If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 3rd largest and 2x the size of the U.S. population

10. 80% of companies use social media for recruitment; % of these using LinkedIn 95%

Sources of Social Media Statistics:

1. Source: http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/broker http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpopinfo.php [roughly 52% based on table data] | 2010 U.S. 310,232,863 | 2010 World 6,814,609,654 | 30 and under: 3,548,760,268 / 6,814,609,654 = 52% http://sasweb.ssd.census.gov/idb/worl...

2. Babson Olin School of Business Advertisement, Fast Company April 2011, page 121. 40% of companies at top of fortune 500 rankings were no longer there in 2010

3. Source: Huffington Post

4. Source: Hitwise Intelligence Heather Dougherty http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-dougherty/2010/03/facebook_reaches_top_ranking_i.html

5. Michael J. Rosenfeld, Stanford University* and Reuben J. Thomas, The City College of New York; Meeting Online: The Rise of the Internet as a Social Intermediary,Page 46, http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/february8/rosenfeld-online-dating-02112010.htmlhttp://www.stanford.edu/~mrosenfe/Rosenfeld_How_Couples_Meet_Working_Paper.pdf; Via: Adam Gorlik, "Forget Cupid. Online connections have valentines falling in love, Stanford researcher says," Stanford University News,

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/february8/rosenfeld-online-dating-02112010.html;

1 out of 5 is also supported by Match.com Blog: http://blog.match.com/2010/05/17/stay-up-to-date-introducing-the-official-match-com-blog/

6. Tony Cooper, "One in Five U.S. Divorces Fueled by Facebook, Social Media, Recent survey by AAML shows Facebook-related antics, extramarital activity burgeoning," San Diego News, http://www.sandiego.com/news/one-in-five-u.s.-divorces-fueled-by-facebook-social-media

7. Opinion, not a statistic

8. Source: U.S. Department of Education Study

9. Facebook and world population data

10. Source: Jobvite Social Recruitment Survey

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