Venture capitalists are jumping on the social network bandwagon, causing a recent spike in Facebook’s membership count. Facebook was originally started as a way for students to connect, but according to Reuters is now used by 29 million users of all ages and backgrounds.
Companies are continually adding Facebook features and software, including Rodney Rumford, a blogger and corporate business consultant, who launched FaceReviews, a software evaluation site. Freelance developer Craig Ulliott’s travel map application, “Where I’ve Been,” was adding several users every second, overwhelming his ability to pay for computers to support the increase in traffic.
With this influx of everyone from high school students to Fortune 500 businessmen joining, reviewing and contributing to Facebook, we will see how other social networks will compare.
In an attempt to reach a younger demographic, the car manufacturer Hyundai has implemented a new interactive campaign that includes a mobile-friendly microsite, ads on MySpace and mobile applications for a Times Square billboard. Through its research, Hyundai discovered that nearly 40 percent of the population has little knowledge about the car brand, especially the 18-34 demographic.
Hyundai created this new mobile platform to reach the younger audience and compete against automobile giants Toyota and Honda. So far the mobile campaign has earned a nine percent click-through rate since March and will add more of its models to the campaign. This was a good move on Hyundai’s part and could have some real legs as people start adopting this new form of advertising. The growth of social networks, mobile applications and Web 2.0 will prove to evolve the interactive marketing industry as large companies find new ways to reach their target audiences. It will be interesting to see the up-and-coming campaigns that marketers will use to target their audiences as the competition becomes fiercer…
Every office has it - that emptied fishbowl in the corner office that employees have to throw a dollar in when they misspell a word in a proposal or send an e-mail to the wrong client. This Bud TV ad takes the dollar jar to a whole new level, making fun of agencies and their quirky practices.
Watch it here.
According to a poll referenced in Ad Age, 72% of Americans are dissatisfied with the quality of today’s journalism. With this high percentage of people wanting better news sources, blogs have become the contemporary alternative. The same poll showed that 55% of Americans think bloggers are an important part of modern journalism, which just goes to show how vital an industry this has grown to become.
The astounding impact of blogs in today’s Internet-savvy society is thanks to their credibility. A poll conducted last year showed that more people trusted information found in blogs than in advertising and e-mail marketing. As the number of blogs increases online, it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this will continue to have on traditional journalism.
In this technologically advanced time where even your mother belongs to a social network and has multiple e-mail accounts, bloggers have flourished to become a source for credible news. According to Technorati, there are approximately 70 million blogs worldwide, with 120,000 created every day. Within those blogs, approximately 1.5 million posts are created each day, making the blogosphere a high-traffic channel for sharing all kinds of information. With so many blogs on the ‘net, Journalists are even starting to turn to bloggers for insight and information.
But if blogs are simply a forum for stating opinions, how can we rely on these as worthy news sources?
The underlying aspect of the Web 2.0 movement is that the online community posts, shares and interacts at their own discretion while adhering to overarching regulations. This was heatedly tested in Digg.com’s latest debacle, where users were candidly posting code enabling the bootlegging of DVDs. The site initially took authority over the questionable content, deleting the material despite its strict stand on allowing for an open forum.
Users continued to post the code, rebelling against what they believed was censorship and in the end, Digg let the content remain on the site, risking legal repercussions.
What do you think of Digg’s actions?
