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Social Networking Surpasses Email

10
March
2009

Social networking now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time according to the latest Nielsen report, surpassing email in internet activity popularity.

Keith Vera
Account Manager

Social networking now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time according to the latest Nielsen report, surpassing email in internet activity popularity. The report “Global Faces and Networked Places” looks at data from December 2007 through December 2008, and finds that not only do “member communities” exceed email in participation; the sector is experiencing twice as much growth than any of the 5 most popular online spaces.

“Global Faces and Networked Places”

Much of this growth can be attributed to the increasing popularity of social networks among an older demographic. As reported by Christine Pepin in February, females over the age of 55 are one of the fastest-growing Facebook user segments, growing by 175% over the last quarter alone, with males over 55 growing over 137%. This new growth helps put over 45% of all Facebook users over the age of 26.

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Facebook’s Audience Demographic Continues to Evolve

12
February
2009

Older users now account for the fastest growing age group on Facebook

Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

Five years ago on February 3, Facebook was founded.  Last week, they celebrated their birthday with the over 150 million world-wide subscribers. Those that remember the early days of Facebook will recall the overly simple homepage layout and compare that to the sleek, user friendly appearance of today’s pages.

Not only has the layout of the site been completely transformed, but the demographics of the subscribers has as well.  This communication-sharing portal was once exclusively for university students in the U.S., then welcomed high-schoolers, and now urges anyone from anywhere to join. 

Despite the younger audience at its founding, females over the age of 55 are now among the fastest growing demographic groups on the Facebook network.  Since September 2008, this female age group grew by 175.3%, and the number of men over 55 grew 137.8% during this same period. In every age group, the usage among women far surpasses that of men as well.  Also surprisingly, 45% of Facebook’s active users in the U.S. are now over the age of 26, and nearly a quarter are over the age of 35.

U.S. Facebook Users By Age Group

It is puzzling to think of how much Facebook’s audience demographic has evolved over the years. Will Facebook become the next MySpace?

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Facebook Used To Serve Lien Notices

17
December
2008

The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court has approved a lawyer’s request to use Facebook to serve legally binding documents.

George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager

After he failed to reach a married couple in default via e-mail and at their home, an australian lawyer received approval from The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court to serve the lien notice through Facebook to the couple’s profile page. The lawyer representing the lender argued the attempt would demonstrate to the court that his client took all reasonable steps to address the couple.

In the past, Australian courts have previously granted permission for lien notices to be served via email and text messages if the party in default were otherwise unavailable. While such a motion has never passed in the United States court system, it may become a reality if a plantiff can prove that all attempts to contact the violator have been exhausted.

Post Note:  The married couple in default have since then removed their Facebook profile pages from public view. This will obviously make Facebook users more mindful about whom they invite and accept as "friends" into their online social communities.

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New Ad Format Released by Facebook Encourages Word-Of-Mouth Marketing

12
November
2008

Facebook’s new “engagement ads” geared towards promoting dialogue and simple brand interaction.

Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

Facebook has released “engagement ads” which will leverage the constant dialogue and interaction between its users.  This new ad format will prompt users to a call-to-action, whether it may be a comment, RSVP or becoming a fan of the sponsored product.  Then, the action and marketing message within the ad will be broadcasted to those connected to that particular user.  Incentives, such as “free” virtual gifts, are offered to encourage the distribution of these ad messages.  Facebook believes they will operate successfully with this ad model based on the simple idea that “marketing messages are more effective when they come from friends.”

Since word-of-mouth marketing tends to be extremely profitable for advertisers, Facebook will charge more for these new engagement ads.  Due to the site redesign last August, sponsored video broadcasting has become available.  These video ads are also expected to provide great return, as these formats allow users to interact using the same call-to-actions as engagement ads.  At this pace, Facebook expects revenues to double to between $300 million and $350 million this year.

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Facebook Expands Scope of their Buzzworthy Tool, Lexicon

22
September
2008

Facebook releases its new version of Lexicon, which will now track personal, recreational and political sentiments.

Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

With Facebook’s release of its updated version of Lexicon, users are now able to gauge more than just the popularity of certain words and topics.  Since its release in April, this tool has only allowed users to view how many times a word or phrase appears on profiles, walls or event groups.  The updated Lexicon will now feature the following:

  • Trends between users from different genders and ages
  • Maps displaying where topics are being discussed within the US, Great Britain and Canada
  • Word and phrase associations to other topics over a period of time
  • Total unique users mentioning a topic and posting about it
  • Comparison of topics based on emotional appeal and overall user sentiment of a particular topic
  • List of keywords mentioned most often in profiles

Today, users can view these features in a sample format with only 17 terms including: Obama, McCain, soccer, football, baseball, dancing, basketball, politics, hip hop, techno, hockey, jazz, volleyball, republicans, democrats, Palin and Bidden.  Although the interface may change when Facebook creates the platform for individualized searches, this new version appears user-friendly with a variety of charts and graphs. 

The sample version of Lexicon focuses heavily on political words and topics, providing campaigners with additional marketing insight to the younger demographic segment that Facebook serves.  This information may be extremely valuable in the final months of the campaign and for each political party’s positioning strategies.  Users can now stay more in tuned with what their peers are discussing and fulfill their curiosity of other’s political and recreational sentiments.  

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“Business Social Networks” Bring Change

22
August
2008

Social networks are thriving, leading to a new development of “business social networks” which are changing the way business is conducted.

Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator

In each of the past couple of years social networks have become increasingly popular. Businesses have noticed this trend and are spending more money on social network advertising. eMarketer predicts that U.S. advertisers will spend $40 million on social network advertising in 2008. That amount is expected to steadily increase during subsequent years to the point where in 2012 it will reach $210 million.

The increase in advertising on social networks is a direct result of the dramatic increase in the overall number of users and networks. These networks are no longer being used strictly for social purposes and are now used for business purposes. In fact, in the next few years many businesses are expected to create their own networks which can be used to improve communication by tying together clients, partners, suppliers and vendors.

The shift to "business social networks" can be seen with LinkedIn, who has had its number of members more than double in the past year. There has also been an increase in the amount of "vertical industry business social networks." Networks such as ITtoolbox, Legal OnRamp and LawLink bring together professionals in the same industry. Even Facebook is following the trend by partnering with Visa in June 2008 to offer an application that helps small businesses network and interact with each other.

These new "business social networks" will greatly effect how people develop professional relationships, search for jobs and communicate B2B.

 

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MarketingSherpa Announces Winners of Fourth Annual Viral Marketing Contest

9
June
2008

The ten winning campaigns shared several common themes including the use of social media…

Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator

MarketingSherpa recently released the list of the top ten viral marketing campaigns for this year and inducted them into its’ hall of fame. For the fourth year in a row, the Sherpa staff evaluated the top viral campaigns and decided which ones were the best. All of the winners utilized peer-to-peer pass-along in order to reach consumers who fit into a variety of demographic groups.

As the staff analyzed the winning campaigns, it noticed several common themes. The three most prominent were an increase in the use of social media (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc.), an emphasis on peer-to-peer sharing and the use of great content in a campaign.

Companies who were inducted into the hall of fame include VIBE Media, General Mills, Columbia Sportswear and VeriSign. For a complete list of inductees and to see each campaign in more detail click on the link below from MarketingSherpa. 

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