How Google+ Affected Social Sharing

After analyzing data from the "Technorati Top 100" websites and their RSS feeds, plus the 20 most-recent blog posts (both before and after Google+ was announced), it appears market share has changed.

Across the board, more of the top sites are using Google +1 buttons (similar to the Facebook "Like" button).

The amount of shared content on Facebook has fallen, since Google+ was launched, the analysis suggests. There also is less use of Facebook sources after Google+ launched. One might suggest the data shows people are sharing on Google+ and using Google +1 more than they did before the Google+ launch.

How Google Affected Social Shares and +1 Adoption Rates

Mobile Broadband Will be Dominant by 2015

More people will getting access to the Internet using mobile devices than desktop devices by 2014 or 2015. And there is a bigger implication than simply the difference between fixed and mobile or un-tethered access.

The mobile Web user increasingly is using the "social" part of the Web, and social applications, compared to desktop access and applications. Increasingly, mobile will mean "social."

How Many Google+ Users Are There?

Ancestry.com founder and "serial entrepreneur" Paul Allen estimates there are around 4.7 million Google+ users in the United States. That number is up from 1.7 million he calculated earlier in the first week of July 2011.

Google Census: How Many are Really Online? PCWorld

Top Web Site Use of Google +1 Buttons Grows 33% in June 2011

An analysis of the front pages of the Web’s 10,000 largest sites shows a 33 percent spike in placement of the new Google +1 button in just the last few weeks, says BrightEdge.

The report shows that Facebook still enjoys a two-to-one lead in plug-in placement on these large sites over competing social networks. Nevertheless, the majority of brands today are still missing out on the massive traffic and engagement driver Facebook has become, as links to Facebook pages still appear on the front page of less than half of the web’s largest websites.

BrightEdge's new "SocialShare Site Analysis" found overall that Facebook is still the preferred social media platform for larger companies, with more than 47 percent of sites linking to the network.

Following just behind Facebook however, is integration of Twitter into site homepages, which was seen in 42 percent of sites measured. Overall the analysis points to a still much untapped opportunity for social platforms even on sites operated by some of the most sophisticated marketers and executives in the world.

BrightEdge SocialShare Analysis of Top 10,000 Sites

"Payments" Ecosystem is Complicated, and Getting More So

The thing about the "mobile payments" ecosystem is that it represents a "convergence" of formerly-separate industries and businesses. Mobile payments, mobile wallet, mobile location services, promotion, advertising, marketing, commerce and money transfers now are becoming parts of one larger business. Read more.

Consumer Savings Likely will Drive Developed Market Mobile Payments

From a demand-side stand point, emerging markets have a unique characteristic, the ubiquitous use of cash for most everyday transactions, say Alberto Jimenez, IBM mobile payment leader, and Prasanna Vanguri, IBM consultant. Cash has well-documented and understood weaknesses that allow mobile payments providers to offer a compelling value proposition to end-users.

In developed markets and high-income segments in emerging markets, the circumstances for both providers and end-users are completely different. Most end-users already have efficient payments instruments that are widely accepted and appear to present no pain points.

“For developed markets, we believe that the initial adoption drivers will fall into two categories, (1) Direct savings and (2) Improved experiences,” they say. “Furthermore, we believe that only in specific segments will Improved experiences act as a true adoption driver and that the majority of ecosystems will be initially driven by direct savings.”

There is currently a large, unfulfilled role within the developed markets mobile payments and commerce ecosystem: the role of an aggregator. An aggregator would provide a single place where multiple payment instruments can be accessed quickly, simply,
and effectively, and where discounts, deals, and awards appear contextually and automatically.  

Read the study results here.

Starbucks Mobile Payment App Gets 3 Million Users

Less than three months after Starbucks introduced a way for customers to pay for grande lattes using their mobile phones, the Starbucks Card Mobile app has been used by more than 3 million people, the company recently announced.

Starbucks Vice President Brady Brewer later called it 'the nation's largest mobile payment network,' according to a report from Mashable and USA Today. Starbucks rolled out the app on Jan. 19, 2011. It can be used in all of its 6,800 company-owned stores in the United States, plus another 1,000 locations inside Target retail centers.

Starbucks mobile payment app used by 3 million people in 3 months | MNN - Mother Nature Network: