Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ are Not the Same

People use social networks in different ways, which might have implications for the ways brands use social media venues.

On Twitter, users “follow” other users (which may include businesses) to obtain information, share updates, and also to be social. Users are open to following brands, so Twitter is great for sharing links to content.

The tone is informal, and users commonly connect with brands for customer support, new content, contests, and offers. Who users choose to “follow back” is fairly open, and users are generally comfortable connecting with more people even if they don't "know" them.

Facebook users either create personal accounts or interact as brands using  business pages, but users on. Facebook are commonly more strict about who they connect and become "friends" with on Facebook.

Usually, Facebook "friendship" is limited to who a person already knows or is friends with in real life. Posts and updates in the network can be longer-form, but the network appreciates less frequent and more valuable updates from businesses, particularly updates that offer exclusive offers and content.

LinkedIn is a network that mainly attracts and suits the needs of business professionals, making it a perhaps uniquely  great fit for B2B marketers. The network has more of a business networking and career focus, and the way users connect is much more formal.

Content shared and discussions that start are usually more industry and business-focused.

Google+  currently attracts an audience that is more “digitally savvy” and  technology focused. The Google+ audience also is mainly male. But Google+ is the newest major social network and its audience profile probably will change over time. So far, Google has chosen deliberately to restrict “business accounts,” but that will come.

One might argue that Twitter is purpose built for content sharing. Facebook, always a “must use” network, is probably better suited to pormotions and branding. LinkedIn is the best B2B venue. Google+ is probably the most-important “new” venue, but its character is not yet fully shaped. Of the major networks, it is the place content marketers need to watch, even if it is not yet as important a venue as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.  Social nets are used differently

New Twists In Facebook Timeline Drama | paidContent

So when will Facebook's new "Timeline" interface be rolled out to end users? A recent wall posting from a Facebook employee sugggests the company is aiming for an “end of the year” rollout.


The public release of Timeline appears to be as far off as it was when Mark Zuckerberg announced on September 22, 2011 that the feature would arrive “in coming weeks.”


Some people think the delay is part of a deliberate strategy by Facebook to introduce the feature gradually. Others think a legal dispute is the reason for the delay. Lawsuit might delay Facebook Timeline launch


The reluctance of Facebook users to embrace change is an issue.  “Any time a company with 800 million active customers makes a change, a certain predictable percentage of them will not be happy. 


Timeline  puts all of your activity in chronological order in a visually pleasing way. Almost like a personal webpage for Facebook, this timeline is designed to highlight large photos, status updates, and activity. 


New Twists for Facebook Timeline

Mobile Commerce, Payments Inflection Point?

There have been a couple other mobile inflection points in the mobile business recently.

Content for Mobile Consumption

It stands to reason that consumers will interact differently with content when on a PC, a tablet or a smart phone. When consumers use different devices, the user experience dictates the types of words that are searched, for example.

It now is obvious that people do different things on smart phones than they do on PCs, and also behave differently when using tablets. That means content consumption patterns will be different as well. Smart phone content tends to be more frequently localized, more often related to some immediate purpose or activity. Sessions tend to be shorter. 


Content requests on a smart phone will tend to have a higher contextual angle as well. What people want to know more often hinges on where they are, what they are doing and what is around them. 


Having access to an actual keyboard makes it much easier to type longer keywords, in addition to not having GPS functionality to localize the search.

Tablets show to have the shortest keyword queries entered. With no keyboard, and it being slightly more difficult to type, "Google Instant" or voice search comes into play, and steers consumers towards shorter queries.


Mobile-specific landing pages are a good idea, when an organization has time and resources to create them, but these days a more-precise term would be "smart phone" landing pages, as a tablet landing page is virtually indistinguishable from a PC page, at least on a 10-inch screen. Whether it will make sense to format content in three ways, for small smart phone screens, seven-inch screens and then full-size PC and tablet screens remains to be seen. 

Consumer Behavior on Mobiles

Fictional Characters for Content Marketing

Forced to compete with countless mediums for attention, brand marketers are using fictional characters on sites such as Facebook to create content with a marketing purpose.

Producing an interesting music video - or a web video or ad creative - is no longer enough, some would say. It's the unique way in which that promotional content is presented that remains in the minds of consumers and incites a sale.

Sony Pictures demonstrated this two years ago as it prepared to release its motion picture "2012." 


The entertainment company's marketing efforts included an official film website, a microsite, several blogs, a YouTube channel, a Facebook fan page, and a Twitter account, but other than the film site, every initiative was based on fictional characters and organizations from the movie.

A similar approach was taken earlier this year by Danish company SF Films A/S as it endeavored to promote its family film "Max Pinlig." Rather than run Facebook ads, SF Films elected to create Facebook pages for six of its fictional characters and link them to the primary Facebook page for the movie.

Fictional characters as act or Facebook?

New Look for GMail

Those of you who use GMail, or love Gmail, will want to know about the new look and functionality Google is bringing to the email service.


The new Gmail interface isbased on the "preview" theme that's already available in Gmail.


There now is an action bar that uses icons instead of text labels, a completely new interface for conversations, profile pictures next to contacts, a flexible layout that adapts to any window size, display density options like in Google Docs, resizable chat/labels sections, new high-definition themes and an updated search box. 

Mobile Social Networking Grows 37%

Some 72.2 million Americans accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device in August 2011, an increase of 37 percent in the past year, says comScore.

More than half read a post from an organization, brand or event while on their mobile device. U.S. Mobile Social Media Audience Grows 37 Percent

In August 2011, more than 72.2 million people accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device, an increase of 37 percent from the previous year. Nearly 40 million U.S. mobile users, more than half of the mobile social media audience, access these sites almost every day, demonstrating the importance of this activity to people’s daily routines.

Research also indicated that although more people accessed these sites via their mobile browser, the social networking app audience grew five times faster in the past year. While the mobile browsing social networking audience grew 24 percent to 42.3 million users in the past year, the mobile social networking app audience surged 126 percent to 38.5 million.

Frequency of Use and Method of Access for Mobile Social Networking/Blog Audience 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2010 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+ (Smartphone and Non-Smartphone) Source: comScore MobiLens
	Total Audience (000)
	Aug-2010	Aug-2011	% Change
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog Ever in Month	52,733	72,252	37%
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog Almost Every Day	25,272	39,854	58%
Social networking Access Method:
Via Mobile Browser	34,192	42,251	24%
Via Application	17,002	38,453	126%