Those who use social location-based apps such as Foursquare or Facebook Places represent just 17% of the mobile population, according to a study commissioned by digital agency Beyond and exclusively shared with Mashable. Of those opting out of participating in the checkin craze, or any other social location behavior for that matter, 48% cited privacy concerns as their primary reason for not doing so. And 50% were merely unable to do so because they did not have a smartphone. The study uncovered some positive findings for the top brand names in social networking (Facebook) and group buying (Groupon). Ninety percent of respondents actively using checkin applications indicated they use Facebook Places; 40% of those who have never checked in would consider sharing their location with Groupon. More than half of mobile users who do use checkin apps (54%) said they are motivated to share their location when discounts are involved. Just 21%, however, said badges and status rewards motivated them to check in. As for consumers not using checkin apps, 99% said they do not consider badges or status an incentive for sharing their location. The message, at least in the digital agency’s not-so-objective opinion, is that brands do have an opportunity to develop geosocial strategies that reach consumers through Facebook and Groupon. “The results of this study highlights the huge changes that will take place as social location apps move from niche to mass consumer,” says Beyond CEO David Hargreaves. “Brands that can develop ‘Glocal’ social media strategies, tap into the motivations of the mass consumer and leverage the reach of the Facebook and Groupon platforms will be the real leaders in this sector.” Beyond, in partnership with the Social-Loco conference, surveyed a statically representative panel of 1,003 U.S. consumers during the week of April 18. Respondents were asked 21 questions designed to assess their familiarity with and usage of Facebook Places, Groupon, Living Social, Twitter’s location features, Yelp checkins, Foursquare, Gowalla, Foodspotting, Path, Instagram, Soundtracking and Aroundme. The consumer pool’s responses were then compared against online buzz of social location-based apps, as measured by a random sample of 383 online conversations. Checkins and non-English updates were excluded from analysis. Here are a few more stats pulled from the study: Nineteen percent of mass consumers are motivated to check in to learn about the location. Early adopters are more likely to check in at locations that sell food or drinks. The top places are restaurants (53%), coffee shops (40%), hotels (38%) and bars (36%). Mass consumers check in most frequently at the homes of friends and family (35%) and restaurants (33%). The study’s results are not all that surprising. We’ve known for some time that the percentage of the population willing to embrace checkins is quite small — just 4% according to the Pew Research Center — and that mobile users have a strong predilection for coupons over checkins. The findings, though potentially accurate measurements, don’t reflect the maturation of the space or the impressive growth of the smaller social location-based startups pushing the envelope. (via mashable) 

Those who use social location-based apps such as Foursquare or Facebook Places represent just 17% of the mobile population, according to a study commissioned by digital agency Beyond and exclusively shared with Mashable.

Of those opting out of participating in the checkin craze, or any other social location behavior for that matter, 48% cited privacy concerns as their primary reason for not doing so. And 50% were merely unable to do so because they did not have a smartphone.

The study uncovered some positive findings for the top brand names in social networking (Facebook) and group buying (Groupon). Ninety percent of respondents actively using checkin applications indicated they use Facebook Places; 40% of those who have never checked in would consider sharing their location with Groupon.

More than half of mobile users who do use checkin apps (54%) said they are motivated to share their location when discounts are involved. Just 21%, however, said badges and status rewards motivated them to check in.

As for consumers not using checkin apps, 99% said they do not consider badges or status an incentive for sharing their location.

The message, at least in the digital agency’s not-so-objective opinion, is that brands do have an opportunity to develop geosocial strategies that reach consumers through Facebook and Groupon.

“The results of this study highlights the huge changes that will take place as social location apps move from niche to mass consumer,” says Beyond CEO David Hargreaves. “Brands that can develop ‘Glocal’ social media strategies, tap into the motivations of the mass consumer and leverage the reach of the Facebook and Groupon platforms will be the real leaders in this sector.”

Beyond, in partnership with the Social-Loco conference, surveyed a statically representative panel of 1,003 U.S. consumers during the week of April 18. Respondents were asked 21 questions designed to assess their familiarity with and usage of Facebook Places, Groupon, Living Social, Twitter’s location features, Yelp checkins, Foursquare, Gowalla, Foodspotting, Path, Instagram, Soundtracking and Aroundme.

The consumer pool’s responses were then compared against online buzz of social location-based apps, as measured by a random sample of 383 online conversations. Checkins and non-English updates were excluded from analysis.

Here are a few more stats pulled from the study:

  • Nineteen percent of mass consumers are motivated to check in to learn about the location.
  • Early adopters are more likely to check in at locations that sell food or drinks. The top places are restaurants (53%), coffee shops (40%), hotels (38%) and bars (36%).
  • Mass consumers check in most frequently at the homes of friends and family (35%) and restaurants (33%).

The study’s results are not all that surprising. We’ve known for some time that the percentage of the population willing to embrace checkins is quite small — just 4% according to the Pew Research Center — and that mobile users have a strong predilection for coupons over checkins.

The findings, though potentially accurate measurements, don’t reflect the maturation of the space or the impressive growth of the smaller social location-based startups pushing the envelope.

(via mashable) 

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What is Color? At first glance, it looks like another mobile photo app - you take snapshots with your mobile phone and they appear in a stream of photos. But the beauty of Color stems from what it’s doing differently. Unlike Instagram and Path, there isn’t an explicit friend or following system — you don’t browse through lists of contacts and start following their photo stream. Instead, all social connections in the application are dynamic and established on-the-fly depending on whom you’re hanging out with. And your photos are shared with everyone in the vicinity. In some senses this is the Twitter of photo apps — it’s all public, all the time.

In a crowded area these streams of photos will get noisy, so Color also has some grouping features. Tell it which four people you’re eating with, and Color will create a temporal group with a stream of just the photos you and your buddies have taken. But here’s the twist: because everything on the service is public, you can also swipe to view other groups, to see what the tables next to you are snapping photos of. And you can always jump to the main stream, which shows a mishmash of photos taken by everyone.

First are the social connections, called your Elastic Network. All of your contacts are presented in a list of thumbnails ordered by how strong your connection is to that user. Whenever Color detects that you’re physically near another user (in other words, that you’re hanging out), your bond on the app gets a little stronger. So when you fire up the app and jump to your list of contacts, you’ll probably see your close friends and family members listed first. But if you don’t see a friend for a long time, they’ll gradually flow down the list, and eventually their photos will fade from color to black-and-white.

The future is unclear, but promising. And with this much money in the bank ($31 million in funding) and a staff of 27, Color has plenty of time to hone in on what works.

(via TechCrunch)

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Shazam has carved out a name for itself by allowing smart phone users to identify almost any song they hear in the world just by having the app “listen” to it. Now this handy service is dipping its toes into the social media landscape. A new update allows users to log into their Facebook accounts through Shazam and begin sharing the music they’ve tagged with their friends. This will let people see what people have heard, show off their own playlists, and even buy tracks through iTunes. These features are similar to iTunes’ Ping but with a nice twist: the songs being shared aren’t from someone’s computer, they’re from their day-to-day life. iPhone owners can check out the update now, while Android users should receive one in a few weeks. (via business insider)

Shazam has carved out a name for itself by allowing smart phone users to identify almost any song they hear in the world just by having the app “listen” to it. Now this handy service is dipping its toes into the social media landscape.

A new update allows users to log into their Facebook accounts through Shazam and begin sharing the music they’ve tagged with their friends. This will let people see what people have heard, show off their own playlists, and even buy tracks through iTunes. These features are similar to iTunes’ Ping but with a nice twist: the songs being shared aren’t from someone’s computer, they’re from their day-to-day life. iPhone owners can check out the update now, while Android users should receive one in a few weeks.

(via business insider)

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Someone who I’ve been following in the media recently is Gary Vaynerchuk who recently hosted a live-taping of his widely popular podcast with Brian Solis at South by South West. Vaynerchuk, author of the bestselling novel “Crush It” identifies the growth engine behind viral phenomena like Hotmail, eBay, PayPal, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, illustrating how these entrepreneurs built multimillion and in some cases billion-dollar businesses from scratch, all without spending a dime on marketing. Their users spread their product for them. 

Says Vaynerchuk:

“Three years ago I was an anomaly, a guy with very limited technology skills who used social sites like Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr to build a highly fulfilling and profitable personal brand … The opportunities are endless—I don’t think enough people have grasped just how much society and business and even the Internet have changed—and my story is about to become a lot less usual.”

(via SXSW, FastCompany)

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CP+B, Microsoft and Burger King created a campaign called King Of The Road, where they’ve sent the king on a 28 day mission to deliver almost 3,000 Microsoft Kinect packs through scavenger hunts to straight up giveaways to people who buy burgers in random towns, every 15 minutes. The crew create daily videos for YouTube, blog posts onTumblr, a variety of tweets, foursquare check-ins, Facebook updates, and Flickr photos.

(via digital buzz blog)

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What the F**K is Social Media Now?

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

 

For the last three years, Marta Kagan, has updated her famous presentation called “What the F**K is Social Media” and for 2010, the presentation has been updated with some more amazing stats and growth comparisons to 2009.  

  • If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world, ahead of the United States.
  • If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world, ahead of the United States. Only China & India are more populated.
  • 500 BILLION. The number of minutes spent on Facebook per month.
  • 500 BILLION. The number of minutes spent on Facebook per month. LAST YEAR, THAT NUMBER WAS A MEASLY 150 BILLION.
  • The amount of content 25 BILLION. (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each month on Facebook. THAT’S MORE THAN 6X LAST YEAR’S VOLUME.
  • 500 BILLION. The number of peer influence impressions Americans generate per year via social media.
  • 500 BILLION. The number of peer influence impressions Americans generate per year via social media. 62% of those impressions come from Facebook.
  • 24 HOURS. The amount of video uploaded to YouTube every minute.
  • 24 HOURS. The amount of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. THAT’S MORE THAN DOUBLE LAST YEAR’S VOLUME.
  • 2 BILLION. The number of YouTube videos viewed per day.
  • 2 BILLION. The number of YouTube videos viewed per day. THAT’S TWICE AS MANY AS LAST YEAR. 11
  • 4 BILLION. The number of images hosted on Flickr.
  • 4 BILLION. The number of images hosted on Flickr. THAT’S 13X MORE THAN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
  • ONE-THIRD. The proportion of women aged 18-34 who check Facebook when they first wake up—even before going to the bathroom.
  • NINETY-FIVE. The percentage of companies using LinkedIn to find and attract employees. 14
  • NINETY-FIVE. The percentage of companies using LinkedIn to find and attract employees. 59% use Facebook and 42% use Twitter.
  • 1 in 6. The number of marriages last year between people who met through social media. 15
  • 1 in 6. The number of marriages last year between people who met through social media. THAT’S MORE THAN TWICE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO MET AT BARS, CLUBS, AND OTHER SOCIAL EVENTS COMBINED.
  • 27 MILLION. The average number of “tweets” per day on Twitter. 16
  • 27 MILLION. The average number of “tweets” per day on Twitter. THAT’S 8X LAST YEAR’S VOLUME.
  • 7 HOURS. The time it took for LeBron James to amass his first 150,000 Twitter followers.
  • 7 HOURS. The time it took for LeBron James to amass his first 150,000 Twitter followers. It took Bill Gates 8 hours to reach 100,000.

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Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign has gotten a lot of press lately. Now you can tell @OldSpice your thoughts on Twitter—and get this—the Old Spice guy will answers your replies in a YouTube video. He’ll also answer questions from Yahoo Answers, comment on posts and we’re imagining respond to just about anything posted about Old Spice on the Internet. Above is the reply the Old Spice guy left for Digg’s Kevin Rose that went up earlier today. Fantastic stuff.

(via thenextweb) 

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