Women and Social Media?

I believe you must heard of this phase in cantonese: " Doing business related to women/ lady is easy". i think so because i work in beauty centre. they really spend tens of thousand to maintain their appearance wellness.

Hence, i find the research it might benefit to you if women is your target audience/ customer! unfortunately, the research base is in US. By the might you might find some insights of the realtionship between women and social medium.

You can get informations of :
1. Women's proportion in different social medium
2. Active rate in different generation
3. Behavior in social media
4. Topic women are most interest
5. Reason why they use social media

The first Sun Zi Rule is realization, whatever your target, your competitors; to get those info in order to win your war. If your company or your friend's company target on women, don't hesitate to let them know!

reference: http://www.flowtown.com/blog/women-and-social-media

Give your Facebook Fan Page a name

How to give a fan page a name, a user-friendly name?

It is the facebook fan page from Dr Pro & Dr reborn, do you think it's name is too long to remember?



Actually, when your Facebook Fan Page has gotten at least 25 fans, you'll be able to create a user-friendly URL for it. Go to the Facebook Username page. Choose your Facebook Fan Page and give it the username you want it to have.

Having a user-friendly URL makes it easier to promote your Facebook Fan Page.

Imagine it's name be changed to www.facebook.com/drpro, how easy to let public to remember!


resource from http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/socialmedia/a/facebookfanpage.htm

What does social network represent?

Social Network build connection between a group of people, they could share, communicate, find someone even find a brand, etc.

Besides, social network represent type on online presence. This is one of the method used by company to reach/ presensent their own company, in order to get certain benefits.

Social network also is a type of business model, it always provide a platform free . How does it run business that provide things free? It attracts most people to join the group with "free" then it start to attract advister, e.g. Facebook, MySpace,etc

Social network help to present growth of technology. Most people have social networking everyday in mobile phone, it need to thank for telecommunications carriers invested significant resources into wireless technologies and the new kinds of content for mobile devices.

Future of social network is difficult to predict, however, teens will be important part in future. A lot of scholar mentioned that teens are choosing sites as educational tools rather than banning them. We already see the future of social network.

Social Network - Business Model

A lot of social networks are free of charge, e.g Twitter, Facebook.
According to investment of Facebook, there is around 4.5 billion user of Facebook and around 1 billion user of Twitter.

Not a long time ago, we've heard a rumor about Facebook charge money for membership.
And a big noise of user about this. Companies such as MySpace and Facebook sell online advertising on their site. Their business model is based upon large membership count, and charging for membership would be counterproductive.Some believe that the deeper information that the sites have on each user will allow much better targeted advertising than any other site can currently provide.

Social networks operate under an autonomous business model, in which a social network's members serve dual roles as both the suppliers and the consumers of content. This is in contrast to a traditional business model, where the suppliers and consumers are distinct agents. Revenue is typically gained in the autonomous business model via advertisements, but subscription-based revenue is possible when membership and content levels are sufficiently high.

If Facebook is really charge money for the membership, it may probably lose a large number of member and so as the advertiser.

Besides, social network is affecting different aspect. This is an example that we could easily find book teaching you how to use Twitter and Facebook

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service
http://facebook.com
http://twitter.com

Books:
Sams Teach Yourself Twitter in 10 Minutes
Sams Teach Yourself Facebook in 10 Minutes

Social Networking Services in Life~

Background
The technique of Web 2.0 is a trend in WWW technology, and marks the new generation of web-based communities such as social networking sites, wikis and blogs, which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users. Web 2.0 boosts the development of social networking services, which build online social networks for people communicating and sharing their interests and activities.

Function of SNS
Social networking services (SNS) are the fast-growing type of social software in both Internet and in company’s Intranets. They are the application systems offer users functionalities for 1) identity management (to find someone, to build a common context or to stay informed about the other) such as in the form of profile and enable to 2) keep in touch can be split in direct communication or exchange with someone and indirect communication is a need for contact management with other users.

SNS are a mix of different functions supporting matchmaking, direct and indirect communication. Fig. 1 is the process of IT supported social networking for reference.

Communicating tools
Base on the communicating tools are from face to face talking directly, then was icq, MSN and qq that via digital equipment; Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and YouTube are some notable social networking websites; 微博, xanga, Twitter and blogger of google are famous blogging service that is used to send “updates” to the personal network via web or cell phone.

Conclusion
Referring to the quantitative research took place from December 5, 2007 to January 31, 2008 and the result on Fig. 2 we can find that the item of keeping contact (awareness about the own contacts, exchange with them) was esteemed most important by the users.

Reference :
1) http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1242572.1242685
2) http://www.kooperationssysteme.de/docs/pubs/RichterKoch2008-coop-sns.pdf

Comparison of Facebook and MySpace

The reasons why to compare the two social networking sites, Facebook and MySpace because they have both similarities and differences. Both sites are very popular, with millions of members and also attract the same segmentation of primarily 18 to 30 years old.

History
Facebook - Facebook is the most popular social networking website nowadays, and it launched in February 2004 and operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add people as friends, send messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.
MySpace – MySpace have been became the most popular social networking site in the United States in June 2006, however the major competitor Facebook.have instead it’s first of Networking Website.

Level of customization
Facebook - Only allows plain text.
MySpace - Allows users to decorate their profiles using HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Levels of privacy concern
Facebook - Members expressed significantly greater trust in both Facebook and its members, and were more willing to share identifying information.
MySpace - Members reported significantly more experience using the site to meet new people.

Frequency and type of use
No significant differences were found between Facebook and MySpace for frequency or type of use.
55% of Facebook members and 60% of MySpace members access the site every day.
82% of Facebook members report updating their profile “once in a while,” as do 72% of MySpace members.

Reference:
http://scholar.google.com.hk/scholar?q=facebook&hl=zh-TW&lr
Facebook:
1) http://www.facebook.com/
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
3) http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117979349/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

MySpace:
1) http://www.myspace.com/
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace

MSN vs. QQ

Online Instant messaging (IM) system began to take off with ICQ (1996). According to the figure from Nielsen 2006, the first three IM systems and their market share are AOL (53 million, 51.4%), MSN (27 million, 26.2%), and Yahoo! (22 million, 21.4%).In China market, IM began with QQ in 1999. The initiator of QQ was inspired by ICQ. It is simply a Chinese version of ICQ and provides almost the same functions as MSN.



Ref.:
1) http://sersc.org/journals/IJSIA/vol2_no4_2008/9.pdf
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=icq%2C+msn%2C+qq&button=%26nbsp%3B

Sharing…what you post on BLOG!!

In the 1990s people connected through online chat rooms and belonged to communities. From that came Instant Messaging, which allowed people to talk privately one-on-one by typing messages to each other over the Internet. Eventually people began to connect on the Internet by creating online profiles on sites like MySpace and Facebook. Also, People began “blogging” that posting online diaries on sites like “Mini-blog” such as Xanga, or Twitter (Twitter is the earliest famous blogger in US) or “Micro Bolg” such as 新浪微博 (which launched at Aug 2009).

Useful of Blogging
Blogging gives people a chance to keep an online diary, it is public! People may start share photos, pictures and topic-specific on blogs, such as opinion of TV program, travel stories…Ever want to write your own column, or have something to say and want others to read it. There are several ways blogs can be used, for example, some people use blogs as online journals or devoted to specific themes of interest.

Ref:
1) Twitter http://twitter.com/
2) 新浪微博 http://t.sina.com.cn/
3) Xanga http://hk.xanga.com/
4) http://hk.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/question?qid=7010050400812
5) http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/ncrvf/documents/TechandSocialNetworkLessonPlan.doc
6)http://hk.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A8tU3wfUtzBMGgsAWo_wzAt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBydHBna29zBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMwRjb2xvA2hraQR2dGlkAw--/SIG=1266g1bmp/EXP=1278347604/**http://sidekick.myblog.hk/archives/2010/03/09/1633

Social Networking – Good OR Bad?!

Social networking sites are not really bad, they are all simply communicating tools. In fact, all aspects are in the rule that when used properly, they can be very useful. However, when used improperly, they can be very dangerous and potentially cause harm.

Trust is defined in (Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman, 1995) as “the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party”

When people join social networking sites, they begin by creating a profile, then make connections to existing friends as well as those they meet through the site. A profile is a list of identifying information. It can include your real name, or a pseudonym. It also can include photographs, birthday, hometown, religion, ethnicity, and personal interest. Members connect to others by sending a “friend” message, which must be accepted by the other party in order to establish a link. “Friending” another member gives them access to your profile, adds them to your social network, and vice versa.

Benefits:
1) Help youth find their personal identity
2) Create a sense of independence
For example: Youth gain a sense of independence from their parents through using these sites, and this independence is good! All aspects of parenting, parents need to be active participants in these parts of their lives as well.
3) Communicate with friends For example: Shy people have a chance to reach out and make connections.
4) Gain a sense of belonging to a group
5) Develop critical thinking and argumentation skills
6) Find support from online peer groups

Dangers
1) Predators (lurking on the Web)
2) Burglars, Identity Thieves, Sexual Predators (Privacy)
3) Cyber-bullying (size, speed, and strength do not come into play on the Web, anyone can be a bully and anyone can be a victim of cyber-bullying)
4) Undesired Attention (Youth may also find that the pictures they put out on the Web, or the comments they posted brought them undesired attention, either positive or negative.)

Ref.:
1) http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/ncrvf/documents/TechandSocialNetworkLessonPlan.doc
2) http://scholar.google.com.hk/scholar?q=facebook&hl=zh-TW&lr

Social Network - One type of online presence

Online marketing is developing very rapidly, since companies, brands know the benefits of it.

Generally, benefits showed by 5S (Smith & Chaffey).
SELL; SPEAK; SERVE; SAVE; SIZZLE.

However, what companies gain, depends on what type of online presence.
Social Network or Community Site is one type of online presence.
Social Network build connection between a group of people, they may share whatever they want. That is goes beyond geographic or culture.

When business people desire the benefits of Serve and Sizzle, they could use social network, since this is reaching a large number of people.
Serve - Get closer to customers. The network maybe members of companyies, so that members able to communicate each others also to companies.

Sizzle - Extend the brand online. Community or network is able to "spread" the advantages of a brand to each other rapidly and closely. That maybe some sharing. This similar "to word of mouth".

Online business people need to choose carefully about the type of online presence to get certain benefits.

Social Media Revolution 2010

I have come across this "Social Media Revolution 2010" by searching "Social Network Marketing" web sites and videos from the big G.

It's simple but deliver a clear message that Social Media is extramely hot right now and is changing the world dramatically, just like a revolution. Actually many statistic data are shown to support this point of view, here some of facts:

Wikipedia has more than 14 million articles writtern by 75,000 contributors in 260 languages, and viewed by 684 million views;

YouTube is the 4th most visited site on the Internet and it's the No. 2 search engine on the web, only surpassed by Google;

Facebook has over 350 million active users on a global basis - A 40% increase in 6 months; The average user spends more than 55 minutes a day on Facebook; More than 700,000 local businesses have active Facebook pages; Purpose-built fan pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans;

Nyppex puts the implied value of twitter with 1.13 billion dollars, and Linked in with 1.25 billion dollars and Facebook with 7.6 billion dollars;

Social media has taken over pornography as the No. 1 activity on the web.

Therefore, socail media is not just a fad, it's ......revolution!

SWOT Analysis for Social Networking Services

It is great time to talk about SWOT, for social Networking Services. We use more time to enjoy this service to express our opinion, experience. Before SWOT analysis of Social Networking Service, I think we need to understand the definition of social networking and list of Social Networking Wesites. It is helpful to work on a SWOT analysis of social networking services.

Strengths:
• Social sites provide better ways to keep in touch with our classmates, friends and family.
• Creating your network of contacts goes beyond geographical and cultural differences as you get to know and meet people.
• Procuring information on a specific subject is faster and easier.
• It leverages to reach more and more people with less effort to spread the words.

Weaknesses:
• It is very personal. To ensure you get the best out of social networking service as a channel, these efforts should handled by individuals who MUST understand the company.
• Because the channel is in continuous change and improvement, this means that companies have to adapt effectively and promptly.

Opportunities:
• Your efforts in Social media, together with the effort of your following may mean that your audiences become your best sales people.
• Because Social media is for everyone, sooner or later you’ll come across people you never though of as your client. This opens the doors to building new relationships but also to valuable feedback.

Threats:
• You can sometimes forget that the whole world can see your information. This might be your address, age, name, phone number.
• Identity theft and fraud are two bothersome concerns that have come out of social networking sites.

(Accessilbe on http://www.channelship.ie/blog/post-570-social-media-swot-analysis-whats-your-opinion.php)

Social Networking - Definition

A social network is a map of the relationships between individuals, indicating the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds. The analysis of social networks (sometimes called network theory) has emerged as a key technique in modern sociology, anthropology and organizational studies, as well as a popular topic of speculation and study. Research in a number of academic fields have demonstrated that social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals.

Social networking also refers to a category of internet applications to help connect friends, business partners, or other individuals together using a variety of tools.

(Assessible on http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Social_networking)

How to build your brand with Facebook

Last time, i introduce you the tips on twitter promotion and this time i would like to share a video on how to build your brand with Facebook

As you can see on video, Facebook can assist your brand or company building up a community for one to many and from many to many, like a virus!They can share their comments with the other (all their friends), as a company itself they can build up vote board to collect peoples idea and improve your service or quality. Of course, you can organize a event to invite all your "Likers" to reinforce and retain he relationship between you and your customers.Okay.....


Here we go~

Content Marketing - The real power behind Social Networking

Traditional advertising has worn out its effectiveness and has gradually been replaced by social media, however, social media is just a channel or format, the real power beind is Content Marketing, according to Danyl's blog.

If company wants audiences/customers to pay attention to their product/service or brand on their web site or social network fan page, they have to deliver value, and marketing itself has to deliver value. There are few rules: The content cannot be all commercial, self-centred and left to go out of date. Danyl also share his own 10 how-to's of building content strategy:

1. Think like a (good) publisher.
2. Assign a content leader with responsibility and authority.
3.Audit your current content.
4.Effective web site design underpins your content strategy.
5.Don’t waste your audiences time!
6.Integrate your efforts for compounded benefits.
7.Get resources aligned and in place.
8.Content marketing is a process, not a campaign.
9.Ensure that results are easy to measure.
10.Try new things – and stop what doesn’t work.
 
In sum, no matter what contents the company deliver, the ultimate goal is to earn the customers' trust to your content, product/service and brand.
 
(Source from: http://www.smartinsights.com/blog/digital-marketing-strategy/content-marketing-primer/)

An overview of today’s Social Network Marketing

As all we know, lots of media channels/techniques are available for digital marketing managers to promote their company’s products or services, including Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Online public relations (E-PR), Online partnership, Interactive display advertising, Opt-in email marketing, Viral marketing, Social Network Marketing & Mobile marketing.

All these channels/techniques are with own pros & cons, smart digital marketing manager should aware these and make use of the synergy power of integrated digital marketing communication; For our group project we will discuss the combination of latest Social Network Marketing and Search Engine Optimization.
According to different statistic, Social Network Marketing is the upward channel, and the function coverage may replace other digital channel, like email marketing, As Sheryl Sanberg (Facebook COO) said, email may go away and replaced by Facebook, the most rapid growth channel of Social Network marketing.
No matter how far the social network marketing grows, different counties with different status. In China, the most popular format of Social Network marketing is forum, the most famous social medium is local brand Qzone. Even though Hong Kong is one of the special regions of China, the trend is more close to international that Facebook is the king. In Europe, Facebook is fastest growth channel, but all localized social media still can fight back through "differentiation" strategy. Back to US, eMarketer projects that by 2011, one-half of online adults and 84% of online teens in the US will use social networking, although facebook is more popular internationally, myspace is more widely be used in North American.
As the increase in popularity of social networking is on a constant rise, new uses for the technology are constantly being observed, and social networking have made a vast impact on globalization and keep going on.

By Sidney To 09824576s