Connecting the Dots / An Agency Blog

A new year, some new toys to play with. Changes to Facebook Places, the addition of Google Plus Pages, and a big feature roll-out for brands on Twitter that we’re still in the midst of. Tumblr and LinkedIn continue to grow their user base, and new apps coming onto the scene, like Instagram continue to offer new possibilities for branded social experiences. Sounds like the perfect time for a quick survey, heading into 2012, to make sure your brand’s presence is in order. Let’s break them down into channels. Not all of these things are “page” specific, but it’s all stuff you’re going to want to put into action this year if you’re not already doing so. Continue…

Since launching in June (publicly in September), the question of whether or not Google+ will take market share from Facebook has been a common one for both marketers and agencies. While we collectively tend to like new platforms: new opportunities for brands to connect with their market, and new opportunities for agencies to innovate on their clients’ behalf, shifting any amount of attention away from Facebook requires Google+ to provide a very different offering, or at least a larger, more engaged audience.

Now, five months in, the big question is; has Google+ proved to be serious consideration? Will it have a chance to rival Facebook’s incredibly large user base? How will it compete in terms of time on site and user loyalty?

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Forrester on Youth, Brands, and Social Networks

It’s clear that youth are spending considerable amounts of time online. They have, after all, grown up in a digitally connected world. But that doesn’t necessarily create a marketing opportunity for brands to connect with the so-called Millennial generation.

A report by Forrester Research, published March 2011 surveyed 4,681 young US individuals ages 12 to 17, and seeks to Understand The Intricate Digital Behaviors Of Young Consumers.

Key findings after the jump.

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The Internet, no longer just a series of tubes, continues to expand and attract a broader, more global audience.

Server uptime and performance monitoring service, Pingdom, has pulled together a list of Internet statistics. These are hefty numbers that indicate just where things (or more specifically, the general public) are headed. Some of the more impressive figures that caught our eye include:

• 90 trillion – The number of emails sent on the Internet in 2009.
• 81% – The percentage of emails that were spam.
• 1.4 billion – The number of email users worldwide.
• 234 million – The number of websites as of December 2009.
• 47 million – Added websites in 2009.
• 1.73 billion – Internet users worldwide (September 2009) – An 18% Increase over the previous year.
• Internet users per region: 42.6% Asia (Yup, they’re leading), 24.1% Europe, 14.6% North America, 10.3% Latin America / Caribbean, 3.9% Africa, 3.3% Middle East, 1.2% Oceania / Australia. Imagine that, we’re 3rd!
• 126 million – The number of blogs on the Internet (as tracked by BlogPulse).
• 27.3 million – Number of tweets on Twitter per day (November, 2009)
• 350 million – People on Facebook.
• 50% – Percentage of Facebook users that log in every day.
• 2.5 billion – Photos uploaded each month to Facebook. – Yuh, Billion!
• 1 billion – The total number of videos YouTube serves in one day.
• 82% – Percentage of Internet users that view videos online (USA).

Get the report after the jump…

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The theory of value is subjective. In regards to a product or service, value must be useful in satisfying the wants and needs of the consumer, we’ve also seen value generated when something is in limited supply. While this idea holds up in the comparison of two products side by side, it does not induce a desire of want in the customer who is inundated with hundreds of choices for nearly the exact same product or service.

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