• Twitter Leads In Positive Brand Interactions
    Most user interactions with brands on social media are positive or neutral. Twitter is the platform with the most positive interactions, according to a new study by Converseon, which analyzed around 2,500 consumer interactions with 20 big brands on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
  • "The Originals" Leads Social Media in Renewed Freshman Shows
    The great springtime massacre of new shows is over, and fans are celebrating the ones who made it past the corporate axe, meat cleaver, hedge-trimmer, or whatever severing implement you favor as a metaphor. No surprise, a lot of this celebrating is going on social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, and social media intelligence outfit ListenFirst has compiled and ranked the top ten freshmen shows from last season in terms of their fan-bases, combining Facebook fans and Twitter followers.
  • Marketers More Social than Ordinary Folks
    One of the amusing ironies of marketing and advertising is the way a bunch of urban sophisticates spend huge amounts of time and money trying to understand ordinary people, who would probably find the whole practice bizarre and more than a little creepy if they thought about it much. Of course all those surveys and focus groups and research panels are necessary because the fact is people who go into marketing and advertising are not, in fact, like ordinary folks.
  • Facebook Key to Self-Esteem, Belonging
    The ability to share information about ourselves and receive approval for it on Facebook is a key factor in self-esteem and feelings of belonging for Facebook users, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia, titled "Threats to belonging on Facebook: lurking and ostracism" and published in the journal Social Influence.
  • Instagram's Killer App: Drug Dealing
    While legitimate marketers are scratching their heads about how to use Instagram to sell everything from diapers to diamonds, one group of innovative entrepreneurs is already doing a thriving business on the photo-sharing network: drug dealers! That's according to DrugAbuse.com, which investigated to find out just how easy it is to buy drugs on Instagram.
  • Nigerian Kidnappings Spur Social Media Campaign
    The debate over social media activism -- specifically, whether it actually accomplishes anything -- has never gone away and is unlikely to ever be resolved, but needless to say that doesn't stop people from arguing about it. In the latest example, people around the world are responding to the kidnapping of almost 300 Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group, with a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls -- and other people are questioning how useful this really is.
  • Shocker: Journos Use Twitter, Promote Selves
    With their unique combination of gossipy extroversion and narcissistic self-absorption, journalists are basically ideal professional social media users. A new survey from the Indiana University School of Journalism confirms that journos are using social media for all kinds of things including -- wait for it -- telling everyone about themselves, specifically how smart and interesting they are.
  • Viddiverse, a Video Site for Kids, Launches
    As social media has become ubiquitous in contemporary culture, it was pretty much inevitable that kids would get involved, raising concerns about exposure to unsavory content and people online (and, even more disturbing, off). To mitigate these risks a whole industry of social networks for kids has arisen: the latest addition is Viddiverse.com, a video-sharing site for kids ages 8-13, which is launching this week.
  • Wall Street Skeptical About Social Media Stocks
    After an effusive 2013, social media investors are getting gun-shy in 2014, judging by substantial declines in the stock prices of big social media companies including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. While each company's circumstances are different, broadly speaking investor skepticism appears to be fueled by interconnect concerns including slowing growth in user numbers, stagnant engagement figures, and doubt about long-term profitability in the case of Twitter and LinkedIn.
  • Maryland Police to Live-Tweet Prostitution Sting
    Law enforcement and social media make an interesting combination, to say the least, and results aren't always in line with expectations, as the New York City Police Department discovered last week. Now police in Prince George's County, Maryland, are coming under fire for a plan to live-tweet a prostitution sting. In answer to the logical questions: yes, they're perfectly serious, and no, it probably wasn't thought through sufficiently.
« Previous EntriesNext Entries »