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Is Twitter a search engine?

What is Twitter? "A microblogging service" doesn't quite fit right. Maybe because that just doesn't sound as cool as Twitter.

A growing number of people are suggesting that Twitter is a search engine. As I was going through my feeds today, I came across several posts discussing just that. This is officially a meme.

by Patricio Robles 05 March 2009 16:40pm 13 comments

10 ways to measure social media success

Social media measurement - 10 tips. Image by padsbrother via Flickr. There’s so much talk about social media that it is easy for people to become cynical, perhaps losing track of the fact that it can have a positive impact on your business.

So how can you determine whether a social media strategy is proving beneficial to your business? How do you know that it is working out for you? And is now really the best time to find out?

Rather than focusing on individual social media campaigns, I’d like to look at social media measurement from the perspective of a business that a) buys into social media, b) commits to it over a period of time, and as such c) has an integrated social media strategy. You people know who you are!

by Chris Lake 05 March 2009 16:00pm 66 comments

Amnesty plants social media time bomb

amnesty one-ten When it comes to innovation, look to the non-profits. When you're short of marketing megabucks, necessity can be the mother of some pretty interesting inventions. Consider the Obama campaign, or PETA.org's fascinating forays into viral marketing.

Amnesty International UK has just announced a new initiative that takes into account a factor that's huge in email marketing, but little used in social media: timing. At 1:10 p.m. on Friday, they're asking supporters to drop a coordinated social media bomb to raise awareness about violence against women in the UK.

Why Friday, why 1:10, you ask? Relevance. Friday March 6 is International Womens Day, and one in ten is the ratio of women in Britain who are victims of rape or violence.

by Rebecca Lieb 04 March 2009 17:33pm 5 comments

Consumers control social media, and brands need to wise up

A recent study by Netpop Research serves to only further assert the fact that social media is rapidly changing the way brands operate, due to the increase of consumer control.

The report is purely US-based, but it certainly seems fair to suggest that this trend can be applied globally, as there is an ever-growing permeation of social media into daily consumer life. The study concludes that there is a shift in consumer internet usage from entertainment towards communication, and it's being driven by social media and networking sites.

by Jake Hird 04 March 2009 16:39pm 2 comments

Are MySpace's better days behind it?

It's hard to say that Rupert Murdoch's $550m acquisition of MySpace in 2005 wasn't a savvy move. Last year alone, despite missing revenue targets, MySpace pulled in more revenue than Murdoch paid to acquire the popular social network.

But all does not appear to be well at the world's second-largest social network. Despite the fact that under News Corp., MySpace has become the best-monetized social network, it has lost significant ground amongst consumers. Last year Facebook surpassed it as the world's largest social network and it's poised to become the largest social network in the United States as well, a country that MySpace had previously dominated.

by Patricio Robles 04 March 2009 10:06am 1 comment

Q&A: Greg Jackson on promoting Labour online

Greg Jackson is Executive director and responsible for online strategy for Tangent PLC, whose recent clients have included Borders and the Labour Party.

Tangent has recently been working with the Labour Party, revamping its website, and developing LabourList, a blog / social media site, as well as promoting the party via sites like Facebook and Twitter.

I have been talking to Greg about Labour's use of social media, as well as the company's work launching Borders' first e-commerce site in the UK...

by Graham Charlton 03 March 2009 13:20pm 0 comments

Skittles launches an amazing social media campaign

Skittles, by *Micky via Flickr One lazy Friday a few weeks ago we rolled out an experiment by displaying all mentions of ‘Econsultancy’ on Twitter onto our homepage. It received a lot of attention, and some people thought we were nuts.

Now Skittles.com has gone one better by turning its entire site into a massive social media experiment. It is possibly the bravest move I have yet seen, in terms of a global brand getting into bed with social media and social networks.

by Chris Lake 02 March 2009 11:45am 19 comments

Why the real-time web isn't really important

There's a new buzzphrase floating around - the "real-time web."

I won't mention the service this buzzword is often attached to. There's already far too much discussion of it.

by Drama 2.0 27 February 2009 08:40am 5 comments

Q&A: Matthew Yeomans on social media measurement

Matthew Yeomans is the founder of Custom Communications and has worked in journalism for the last fifteen years. He is currently Managing Director at social media agency Radar DDB.

I have been talking to Matthew about the difficulties involved in social media measurement, and social media in general...

by Graham Charlton 24 February 2009 11:45am 12 comments