NEW YORK: Web users around the world are spending more time on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, meaning that a growing number of brands are also turning to these platforms.

New figures from The Nielsen Company, the research firm, showed that 142.1 million consumers in the US accessed properties like social networks and blogs in December last year.

This audience spent an average of more than six hours viewing material hosted on these services, a total that had increased by 143% year-on-year.

Some 46.6 million Japanese netizens also logged on to these portals in the closing month of 2009, typically devoting almost three hours to this kind of activity.

More than 31 million Brazilians used offerings such as Orkut in the same period, with a normal “dwell time” of over 4.5 hours, while 29.1 million Britons dedicated six hours to this pastime during the month.

Across the ten countries assessed – which also included Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland – the overall “time per person” recorded on social networks and blogs rose by 82% in all.

Out of a total sample of 307 million people, Facebook received 206.9 million visitors, with the amount of time that US members remained on its pages improving by 200% on an annual basis.

Twitter posted an uptick of 368% on this measure, and was the fastest-growing social network in the US, with 18.1 million people posting or reading “tweets” in the final month of last year, up from 2.7 million in December 2008.

Apple Tablet Saves the World from Ben Kunz on Vimeo.

So apple does it again. The ipod of the publishing industry is here destined to re-invent how we read, engage with and pay for editorial content while simultaneously transforming the fortunes of mobile advertising. Rory Sutherland in ‘Lessons from an ad man’ ( the best 15 mins at your desk with a sandwich you’ll probably ever spend) captured the observation perfectly. If you change the interface – you change behaviour. If (he says) you had a big red button in your lounge and every time you hit it, you automatically saved money into your bank account, then the chances are everyone would save a lot more money. Same goes for the Apple i-tablet. If you have a big touch sensitive screen that connects you in real-time to the latest news, views, gossip, programmes, films, music…you name it, then the chances are that you’ll use it (and so Apple are hoping..along with the entire global publishing industry) that you’ll pay for it too…all via i-tunes no doubt. So..does human behaviour drive innovation in technology or does innovation in technology drive human behaviour. Comments Please!

By Ayelet Noff on January 11, 2010

Starbucks has over 705,000 followers on twitter and over 5,428,000 fans on Facebook. You could say that they’re doing something right on the Web. What is it about Starbucks’s social media strategy that makes it so successful?

Let’s analyze Starbucks social behavior across the Web:

1) Starbucks on twitter – Starbucks engages with customers on twitter, answerING questions, retweets, what people are saying about the brand and creates an open communication channel to speak with the public.

2) Starbucks on Facebook – Starbucks uploads content to their Facebook page such as: Videos, blog posts, photos. The company also invites people to events. Fans have a place to open discussions and comment as many of them do.

3) Starbucks on YouTube -Over 4800 people subscribe to Starbucks YouTube Channel. They upload videos of commercials as well as informational videos explaning the origins of the different coffee blends and some of their charity work videos. They also upload videos showing their history thus enabling people to relate more to the brand. This video showing the beginnings of Starbucks received over 11, 800 views:

Starbucks also allows people to embed its videos anywhere they like on the Web. Many companies don’t allow this because they’re afraid their videos might end up on places they don’t want to be associated with. However, from Starbucks’ experience as well as the experience of other brands (such as Dell), this strategy has proven to only increase the positive exposure of brands that allow embedding and not the opposite.

4) My Starbucks Idea – Starbucks’ own version of a social network where customers are asked to share their ideas on anything related to Starbucks. The site gives users the ability to see what others are suggesting, vote on ideas and check out the results. This site is a brilliant and important aspect of Starbucks social media strategy. Users who are part of this network feel that they have some role in the decision making process of the company and it makes them feel a part of it.

5) Starbucks Blog entitled “Ideas in Action” – This blog is written by various Starbucks employees and talks about what Starbucks is doing with the ideas given by users on the My Starbucks Idea site. The blog keeps customers in the loop and in the know regarding what’s happening with their ideas and increases their sense of loyalty to the brand.

Overall Starbucks’s social media strategy integrates many different elements into the mix and combined together, these elements create a social media plan that works beautifully to create millions of fans for the brand and keep them involved in the brand’s doings. The brand has created a digital dialogue with its customers, enabling people to give their feedback and receive a response back from Starbucks addressing their concerns/comments. Starbucks is showing its customers and potential customers – “hey, we care about what YOU have to say.”

I am certain that if each one of these elements was implemented alone then the strategy would not have been as successful and complete as with the rest of the elements on board. Many brands can learn a great deal from the way that Starbucks conquered the social web. It is really all a matter of priorities. Starbucks put communicating with their customers and potential customers as a top priority. Do you?

Ford US recently gave 100 consumers a car for six months and asked them to complete a different mission every month. And away they went. At the direction of Ford and their own imagination, “agents” used their Fiestas to deliver Meals On Wheels. They used them to take Harry And David treats to the National Guard. They went looking for adventure, some to wrestle alligators, others actually to elope. All of these stories were then lovingly documented on YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter.

Bud Caddell @ the agency undercurrent, responsible for the campaign said:-

‘The idea was: let’s go find twenty-something YouTube storytellers who’ve learned how to earn a fan community of their own. [People] who can craft a true narrative inside video, and let’s go talk to them. And let’s put them inside situations that they don’t get to normally experience/document. Let’s add value back to their life. They’re always looking, they’re always hungry, they’re always looking for more content to create.’

The effects of the campaign were sensational. Fiesta got 6.5 million YouTube views and 50,000 requests for information about the car — virtually none from people who already had a Ford in the garage. Ford sold 10,000 units in the first six days of sales. The results came at a relatively small cost. The Fiesta Movement cost a small fraction of the typical national TV campaign.

Lesson learned:-

Engage culturally creative consumers to create content.

Encourage them to distribute this content on social networks and digital markets in the form of a digital currency.

Craft this is a way that it rebounds to the credit of the brand, turning digital currency (and narrative meaning) into a value for the brand.

There you go. So what’s stopping you?

Maybe this is where Starbucks are going wrong you know? To get people to pay for and enjoy that ‘3rd place’ coffee experience, you actually have to give them a damn good reason to go into the store in the first place and with all this downshifting hitting their bottom line like a washer woman on an old rug then there’s a lot at stake. Perhaps you need to take the experience to them?

While this is blatant ‘disruption’ and arguably doesn’t tell you much about the product or contain much of an idea… it’s got a tremendous amount of stopping power…and most importantly, will get people going into McDonald’s to claim their free coffee (and probably buy a burger while they’re at it.)

Is it scalable, is it affordable? Does it matter? It’s got conversational currency. Think it’s going to be an exciting time for outdoor / ambient and guerilla marketing this year with ever more spectacular and innovative installations and events fuelling the conversation.

So. pretty cool or what. Two design icons get it together and help the discerning traveller make the most of their city trip. The locations included in the i-phone app are curated with a keen eye for design, as you’d would expect from Wallpaper. The content is all about style and spares no expense. From restaurants, spas, hotels, museums, to high-end shops, there is an emphasis on ambiance, modern architecture, and beautiful interior spaces.

Downloadable from itunes. Simples.

Agencies watch out! Great example of how Doritos is using social media to tap into the creative capital of well, anybody that fancies having a go really, and bypassing the official and over-priced sponsorship packages around the Superbowl that appeal to brands and their agencies with lots of money and little imagination.

Apparently Doritos have been doing this for a few years now around the Superbowl. It’s their ‘Crash The Superbowl Social Campaign’ that sees thousands of normal people, along with ad creatives & film makers create and submit their funniest Doritos ads in an online competition in the lead up the to Superbowl itself, with the winner, to be played at the main event and the finalists sharing in over $5million in prizes!

Ok – so it takes effort to partcipate and there’s a well oiled production machine behind it that is hardly organic but do you know what, its bloody well done, bang on brand and pivots on one of the big insights that make people want to enagage. Getting attention.

Jack Johnson. Author of many awesome mellow melodies has figured out a really cool way to promote his new live album on Twitter.

It’s really simple: just head on to twitter.jackjohnsonmusic.com. There’s a premade Twitter () message there (you can add 24 more characters if you like) that promotes the new album, titled En Concert, and all you need to do is login into your Twitter account and send it. The download of the promised tune (it’s a 192 kbps MP3) will start automatically.

This is probably one of the simplest and best examples of how a musician can promote his work via Twitter, because everyone wins: you get a free song off the new album, and Jack Johnson will probably get a free Twitter trend and lots of good vibes. Enjoy!!

To celebrate the release of Tooheys Extra Dry 5 Seeds,  Tooheys launched a nice offlince/online teaser campaign: Giant apples are being hidden all over Sydney for 10 days. Track one down and you’ve got a shot at picking up one of the prizes.

Clues as to the apple’s whereabouts are given out through the 5 Seeds Facebook page and Twitter stream where you can also follow the tag #applehunt.

It’s nice to see campaigns which are blurring the line between online and offline, utilising the increase of web-ready mobile devices, allowing people to take the campaign with them onto the streets and away from their computer.

There is nothing new about the idea behind the Evian Roller Babies: create a viral and let people talk about and share it. But the remarkable thing about this viral is the execution and the success it achieved. Have a look:

It is assumed that the viral is heading forward to 50 million views at youtube, myspace, via embedded videos on several websites and downloads. Beyond that, the campaign has managed to attract people at Facebook. To date the campaign has over 35,000 fans. Also three protagonists, Anna, Tom and Vincent reaching fame with follow up interviews and videos, have an own profile and are gathering friends. Watch out for this little kid:

It is also a good example how classical media finds its way into the web. In 1998 a TV-Spot with a similar idea (“Evian water babies”) was broadcasted. The new spot was also broadcasted in France, Canada and Belgium, but it reached its global popularity through the web. The recent popularity was only possible via social media – if folks love it, they comment and more important, spread it! Autonomously!!

In sum: a good campaign can work out on several channels and is able to attract people at social networks. From then on it has its own momentum… Let’s see what comes next…