Will You Give Up Facebook for Google+?

It might be a bit of a waste of time to worry about whether Google+ will "displace" Facebook or Twitter. There probably is room for several leading social networks.

And there is some evidence that many people already are thinking they will use, or will try to use, both Facebook and Google+.

Read more here.

Digital Loyalty Matters

Loyalty always matters in business, for the simple reason that acquiring new customers is expensive, compared to retaining and cultivating long-time and repeat buyers. That is true for social media as well as for all other marketing activities of a business. Read more here.


One rule of thumb is that it costs six to seven times as much to acquire a new customer as to retain a current customer. The other important metric is that customers any retailer or brand has had for a longer time tend to buy more, represent higher profit margins and cost less to support (they know the product, know how to use it and don't have as many questions in the billing, delivery or other operational areas).





  

Digital Goods Have Been Purchased by 31% of All Gamers

U.S. gamers, whose online purchases of digital goods were once paid for largely by credits earned from advertiser offers, now say they are migrating to “real world” payment for digital goods using debit, credit and prepaid cards, according to a new study of online gamer behavior commissioned by PlaySpan, a Visa company.

According to the study, 31 percent of the general gamer population has used real world money to purchase virtual content. Of those gamers who use real world money, 57 percent said they make purchases of virtual items using real world money at least once every month.

Console games with online play account for the majority (51 percent) of virtual purchases using real world money, with social networking games (30 percent) and massively multiplayer online games  coming in at second and third respectively.

Overall, 72 percent of respondents indicated they expect to spend the same or more money on games in 2011 as they did in 2010.  About 67 percent of those who intend to spend more said they were playing more online games than last year, with 42 percent saying they have more money to spend.

Download the full report here.

Apple, Google Gain; RIM, Microsoft, Symbian Lose in 2nd Quarter

The U.S. mobile operating system was a tale of two markets in the quarter ended June 2011, as Google's Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 40.1 percent market share, up 5.4 percentage points. Apple strengthened its #2 position with 26.6 percent of the smartphone market, up 1.1 percentage points from the prior reporting period. Those were the winners.

Research in Motion, Microsoft and Symbian all lost share.

Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending Jun. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Mar. 2011 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	Mar-11	Jun-11	Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
Google	34.7%	40.1%	5.4
Apple	25.5%	26.6%	1.1
RIM	27.1%	23.4%	-3.7
Microsoft	7.5%	5.8%	-1.7
Symbian	2.3%	2.0%	-0.3

June 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

T-Mobile Still Losing Customers

The recent round of quarterly earnings reports for mobile service providers doesn't bear directly on prospects for approval or rejection of the AT&T bid to buy T-Mobile USA, despite the fact that T-Mobile became the fifth smaller carrier to post disappointing results in the last two weeks.

Sprint, MetroPCS, Leap Wireless and Clearwire all reported subscriber losses, as did T-Mobile USA. The reason the quarterly results do not necessarily lend credence to either the argument to approve or deny the transaction is that the results can be seen as support for either position.

Most observers have been expecting consolidation in the market, simply because of the competitive pressures. That might tend to support the argument for a consolidation, even though there will be room for legitimate concern about market structure.

The other argument is that smaller competitors already are finding it difficult to compete with AT&T and Verizon, and that the market is in danger of being dangerously concentrated. That argument will be clearer if (when) Verizon Wireless itself grows by acquiring Sprint.

T-Mobile Still Losing Customers

Facebook Looking at Changes to News Feed

The changes should make it easier for brands to run campaigns on Facebook.

IT Buyers Like White Papers, But Many Want "Local" Content

A survey of 3,217 information technology professionals in 114 territories by IDG Connect suggests that vendor content is a remarkably powerful marketing tool. Worldwide, 72 percent of IT professionals say they find content of this kind “extremely useful” or “useful”. In Africa, Asia and South America, the numbers rise sharply, to encompass nearly all IT professionals.

But IT professionals outside North America say they want localized studies. What they often get are white papers that are heavily influenced by North American perspectives. In Asia, 74 percent of IT professionals say they would prefer localised content, but 79 percent say they “struggle” to find it. In Europe, half of IT professionals prefer to read localised content. Yet 55 percent “struggle” to find it.

The preference for local information is widespread, but runs deepest in South America, Australia and North America. In Europe and the Middle East, the preference for local information is real, but less pronounced. By contrast, Asia, dependent on raw material imports and the export of finished goods, emerges as a stand-out exception. Here, IT professionals find local and global perspectives equally useful.

But white papers might not be the best venue. IT professionals around the world demonstrate a strong appetite for white papers. But how engaged are those potential readers?

We asked IT professionals whether they are “always interested in consuming IT white papers”, or whether they seek them out “when it is relevant to a specific project”. IDG Connect describes these separate groups as “mavens” and “searchers”.

The study found that "mavens" are less plentiful than "searchers." Despite much enthusiasm for white papers in principle, the proportion of mavens dwindles to around a third of respondents in Europe and the Middle East, and to a quarter in South America. In other words, demand for white papers is less robust than often is thought.

Read more here.