Twitter Brings “Banner Image” to Profile Pages, Makes Upgrades to Mobile Apps

Posted by: Matthew Bick // September 19th, 2012

Similar to Facebook’s upgrade to Timeline several months ago, Twitter has now brought a “banner image” feature to all profile pages.  For brands and regular users, this puts a greater emphasis on truly integrating aesthetics and design in general into social media.  The new creative real estate that Twitter has provided, just like Facebook before it, appears indicative of a general trend in social media; to make social spaces easy for individuals to customize, allowing them to visually define themselves or their social persona.

Before Timeline, the vast majority of social media was very difficult to truly aesthetically customize — profile pictures could be changed, personal information could be edited, but appearance in general was either not changeable at all, or the changeable area was on the periphery of a profile page.  In 2012, Facebook and Twitter have both taken strides to change that, making design an even more integral part of the social media experience.

Twitter also completely redesigned its entire app suite, with new versions becoming available for all major mobile operating systems.  The new app looks significantly different than its predecessor, but it does appear to shift the mobile interface much closer to the main online user interface.  In the previous version, links or images embedded in Tweets would slide open on the right side of the app.  In the new app,  Tweets are expanded with one tap, and the links/images/videos open in their own full-screen window, very similar to the way Facebook’s app now opens the same content.  Visually, the app now features a much smaller option bar on the left side of the screen, with navigation having the same options as the Twitter web interface (home, connect, discover, and “me”).

Mashable and others have guides on the new space’s specifications.  Some key information includes:

  1. Maximum image size is 1252 x 626 pixels, although the platform does drastically shrink that size for profile display
  2. The banner image loads behind a user’s profile picture
  3. The white profile information text does not appear to allow color changes to mesh with the new banner image

@MatthewBick

Read More 0

A Twitter Bot that Average Users Interacted With…Really!

Posted by: Matthew Bick // June 27th, 2012

We’ve all seen them, been spammed by them, and gotten overly annoyed with them.  Bots are everywhere on Twitter, from the mildly entertaining @Horse_ebooks to random amalgamations of letters that automatically respond to you when you mention a celebrity, these bots pervade Twitter and aggravate average users.

However, one developer was smart enough to figure out how to make his bot better than the rest: act natural.  According to Wired Magazine’s Robert McMillan, Greg Marra’s “experiment to see if an automated program could worm its way into online networks of real people” has proven wildly successful.  McMillan reports that the @Trackgirl handle started by seeking out groups of tweeting runners.  According to the article, the bot “would scour Twitter for messages with running-themed keywords and post them as if they were her own. Three times a day, she’d pick five people to follow, and she’d always follow back anybody who followed her. Because she seemed connected to the right people, @Trackgirl started to gain followers, who thought her cut-and-paste messages about the agony and the ecstasy of long-distance running were coming from a real person.

And then a funny thing happened. @Trackgirl tweeted that she’d hurt her ankle.  And the very real followers she had began to send her positive messages, even asking how her recovery was going.  Suddenly, a piece of engineered spam had actually gotten user interaction, despite the ever-increasing measures that Twitter takes to prevent bots just like this.  Although the account has recently been suspended, Marra’s innovation represents a potentially very interesting social development.  As McMillan discusses in his article, if a bot like this can elicit interaction from a community of runners, it is entirely possible that it could do the same for any other demographic, perhaps influencing anything from a user’s perception of a brand to their perception of a political candidate.

@MatthewBick

Read More 0

4 Surprising New Summer 2012 Online Facts

Posted by: Neil James // June 25th, 2012

Nearly a billion people on Facebook? That’s so 2011. Twitter now gets 400 million Tweets per day? Please. As marketers, we’re hungry for the really interesting trends – the nuggets of information that not everyone knows – the little details that inform superior strategies.

Enter the new report from comScore, State of US Internet in Q1 2012. Far from the standard reports on the bloated size of Facebook and Twitter, comScore has unearthed some interesting nuggets of particular interest to digital marketers:

  • The Asia-Pacific region now holds 41 percent of the world’s Internet population
  • Pinterest is growing faster than any other social media site in terms of both unique visitors and search engine clicks
  • E-commerce dollar sales are posting double-digit gains and are now ahead of pre-recession levels
  • Online ad spending is set to grow 18 percent in 2012

@NeilAndrewJames

Read More 0

Do You Know How to Use Twitter Hashtags?

Posted by: Kirsten Taylor // June 6th, 2012

If you are in charge of Twitter for your organization, you’ve most likely encountered the “hashtag”. For those of you that haven’t, hashtags are the words and letters that follow the # sign in a tweet and are used to connote keywords or topics. But there are a lot of questions that can be asked about these pesky little tags. Should you use one in every tweet? Do you make up your own? Research those used by others? How can they be used strategically?

Ragan’s Health Care Communication News offers some insight. They give these five reasons that hashtags work:

  • Categorizing Content
  • Interacting with personality
  • Promoting events
  • Helping build buzz
  • Encouraging brevity

However, there are also five reasons that hashtags fail!

  • Lack of consistency
  • Too many words
  • Irrelevant hashtags
  • Lack of promotion
  • Carelessness

Click here to read more in depth explanations of the five successes and failures of hashtags! And remember, just like with everything else, ask yourself who, what, where, when, why and how before using a hashtag!

@KirstenETaylor

Read More 1

Facebook and Twitter Going Mobile with Ads

Posted by: Kirsten Taylor // March 21st, 2012

Both Facebook and Twitter have recently announced that they’re going to begin sending advertisements to mobile devices, according to an article on the New York Times blog. These devices use dozens of algorithms that figure out what website users like, do not like and may like but don’t know about. Additionally, these preferences can be segmented by demographics.
Last year alone, advertisers spent $1.45 billion on mobile ads in the United States, which was up 89 percent from the year prior. This is projected to grow another 80 percent in the year to come.
For advertisers, this trend means access to whole new realms of mobile data about their consumers habits and lifestyles, including location, phone use schedule, type of mobile device, spending habits, etc.
With this level of investment and statistical reward, mobile advertisers should get working on 2’’x4’’ ads now!
@KirstenETaylor

Read More 0

Tweet Tweet Cha-Ching: Data Collection Through Twitter

Posted by: Kirsten Taylor // March 7th, 2012

There has been an industry trend to understand the impact of social media efforts. Knowing this, Twitter has approved two companies to analyze archived tweets and information about Twitter users, and they’ll be selling that data to clients. While this news isn’t entirely shocking considering the state of the social media landscape, it does suggest some positive and negative implications for companies.

According to an article in PR News, users of Twitter and Facebook have been willingly sharing personal information, as well as details about their preferences, habits and lifestyles for years. Analyzing this data means sentiments about a brand its competitors is readily available – but your information is for sale as well. However, some suggest that the real value of Twitter is its real time opportunity, making this archived information less exhilarating.

@KirstenETaylor

Read More 0

Will Google’s Personalized Search Results Last?

Posted by: Matthew Bick // February 27th, 2012

Mixed feelings reigned in the wake of Google’s personalized search announcement in January.  Recent research from eMarketer shows that users might be even more hesitant than first thought about the new features.  In a recent study, only 15.5% of respondents indicated absolute interest in personalized search results. 

Google’s new features rely heavily on Google + to provide the social-based results, but eMarketer found that only 19.3% of respondents regularly used the utility.  19.5% indicated “I don’t know what Google+ is” in survey results.  eMarkter theorizes, “Google faces an uphill battle as it works to connect its social content to search results, including determining how users prefer to connect the two. ”

Twitter and Facebook have taken public exception to Google’s efforts, paving the way for more intrigue in the coming months.  eMarketer quotes a statement from Twitter: “As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results [for world events and breaking news]. We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone.”  Either way, the situation will bear close watch from marketers and normal Googlers alike.

@MatthewBick

Read More 0

Why We Won’t See the Next Facebook or Twitter Anytime Soon

Posted by: Neil James // December 12th, 2011

One of the most common questions we field given our experience with social media is “so what’s the next Facebook? What’s going to replace Twitter?” At face value, it’s a logical question. As the Roman Empire and Myspace have proven, just because an institution is omnipresent today doesn’t guarantee its existence tomorrow.

But here’s something to consider. A new study by Pew Internet found that two-thirds of online adults use social media platforms – no huge surprise. The primary consideration in their adoption of these tools, however, is connecting with family members and friends. According to Pew, two-thirds of social media users cite staying in touch with friends and family members as the primary reason for using social media.

These facts pose problems for upstarts (Google+) looking to dethrone Facebook and Twitter as king of the social networks. In order to succeed, competing social media sites can’t just attract users, they need to attract entire social networks.

@NeilAndrewJames

Read More 0

100% Wired

Posted by: Liz Mortek // November 7th, 2011

It may come as no surprise to hear that nearly 100 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds use social media.  According to PR Daily, a study released last week proves that among all online adults, 91 percent use social media in a typical month.  That equates to 129 million people – or about 41 percent of the U.S. population.  Furthermore, 98 percent of 18-24 year old use social media in a month, investing in Facebook, Twitter and the like, while a still large 82 percent of 55-64 year olds visit their favorite social media sites each month.  The reason, you may ask?  No, this usage is not for work or to check up on brands, rather it is to primarily communicate with friends, citing secondarily, to stay in touch with family members.

@EMortek

Read More 0

Facebook Actions Get Roughly Nine Times More Clicks Than Tweets

Posted by: Neil James // July 14th, 2011

Facebook Actions Get Roughly Nine Times More Clicks Than Tweets

Social networks need more than love and pictures of cats with funny captions to keep the lights on – they need revenue. And in order to get revenue, they need to prove to marketers that they can deliver desirable actions among target markets at a cost-effective rate.

As Hayley Tsukayama reports in a new article for the Washington Post, How Effective Are Facebook Likes, Facebook continues to hand Twitter its lunch in this department. Tsukayama cites a recent Mashable survey which found that a post on Facebook received a combination of 3.3 likes, shares or comments compared to only 0.4 clicks per Tweet – a nearly nine-fold difference!

@NeilAndrewJames


Read More 0

« Older Entries