Next2Friends is a sociable business and our team will be going to lots of different
events all around the world. The Next2Friends Events Page
will be updated regularly as more dates are confirmed, so make sure to check back often.
A little talked about study was recently release by Com.motion and Pollara that looked at how 401 Canadian business leaders plan on utilizing (or not utilizing) social media in 2009. The results were quite telling.
Some key takeaways quoted from the report:
Despite the economic slowdown forcing marketers to modify their spending, 82 per cent of Canadian business leaders and senior marketers say they will spend as much or more on social media in 2009 than they did this year. That’s more than for any other marketing communications discipline.
Nearly four in five Canadian marketers (78 per cent) say senior management supports greater investment in social media. That’s up dramatically from 54 per cent a year ago.
Canadian business leaders say it would be a mistake to cut back on social and digital spending in tough economic times, with 7 in 10 recommending increased investment.
Two-thirds of Canadians (65 per cent) who use social media say social media tools are important for learning about products, services, organizations and brands, up from 59 per cent a year ago.
The number of business leaders who say they are less familiar about social media than their customers has fallen to 17 per cent, down from 26 per cent a year ago.
Just 7 per cent of Canadian business leaders see social media tools as a fad, down from 15 per cent a year ago. And one in two (46 per cent) say social media tools have forever changed the communications landscape and are becoming more important than communications tool such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines.
Nearly four in five Canadians (79 per cent) say they have used social media tools. That’s up from 71 per cent a year ago.
Despite all the dark news about the economy it looks as though social media is here to stay. There will definitely be a bit of rethinking going on in 2009 as companies start demanding more accountability and metrics around social media campaigns, but this latest poll certainly shows that there is a growing commitment to the social media model of marketing and consumer dialog.
Google’s Open Handset Alliance has gained 14 more pledges this week. AKM Semiconductor Inc., ARM, ASUSTek Computer Inc., Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, Omron Software Co. Ltd, Softbank Mobile Corporation, Sony Ericsson, Teleca AB, Toshiba Corporation and Vodafone have all joined the alliance. What does this mean exactly? From the OHA website:
“New members will either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices.”
And perahps not to be outdone by all the news, Garmin announced that they’d be joining the alliance as well. This brings the total number of members to 47, covering nearly every mobile phone manufacturer and network operator. Engadget makes a good point in saying that those NOT involved with the alliance are starting to really stand out, notably, Nokia and AT&T. But this is not surprising given Nokia’s investment into Symbian and AT&T’s involvement with Apple.
The latest research by Gartner Research shows some interesting movement in the smartphone market, principally that the iPhone is seeing unprecedented sales and growth at the expense of all other device manufacturers and operating systems. The numbers, which only represent the sales and market share from the 3rd quarter 2008, show an astonishing 327.5% gain for Apple from this time last year:
Granted, the release of the 3G iPhone in Q3 certainly has elevated these numbers, but it is remains pretty stunning that in Q2 of 2008 Apple only commanded 2.8% of the market share and now holds 12.9% of the market. And for the first time Apple has outsold Windows mobile, something that many industry analysts didn’t even see happening, or if they did, not so soon.
No doubt, Symbian is still the world leading smartphone OS, but they saw their lead erode by 7.1% in a matter of months from 57.1% in Q2 to 49.8% in Q3. JKOnTheRun asserts, probably accurately, that Symbian will continue to slip as they have no new phones available and the recently announced N97 won’t hit the market for six months so people may hold off buying a new Nokia knowing that the N97 is right around the corner. Apple has been riding pretty high lately, it will be interesting to see if they can keep it going.
Juniper Research recently released a study that looks at the mobile gaming landscape now and into the future. They predict, among other things, that revenue from mobile games will reach a whopping $10 billion by 2013 and that more than 460 million games will be downloaded, an increase that represents twice the rate of today.
What is particularly telling, though, is how Apple’s platform and App store is transforming the business of game development:
“The revenue share offered by Apple to games publishers is incredibly attractive. The danger is that if operators do not respond with a similar business model, publishers faced with low margins may simply exit Java completely, thereby reducing consumer choice in the longer term.”
Apple offers a revenue share of 70% with developers. This is in stark contrast to another finding of the report: while ad-funded downloads are growing in popularity, the revenues accrued from advertising are unlikely to be sufficient for developers or operators. Basically, the old models are failing and Apple’s model could emerge as the only game in town.
Aside from what this means for Apple, there were some other interesting findings, primarily that in developing nations gaming on mobile phones is growing due to lack of internet connectivity and actual gaming consoles. Some other key points:
China and the Far East will remain the largest regional market for mobile games throughout the period covered by the report.
Global revenues from in-game advertising will rise significantly from 2008 to 2013.
Operators need to reduce data charges further for out of bundle customers to encourage casual mobile Internet usage and thereby stimulate the mobile entertainment market
In a three year study of 800 teens over 5000 hours of observation, The Digital Youth Project found that, contrary to what many parents feel, usage of social networking and social media is actually good for kids. Yet another positive mark for the future of social media. Among the skills it hones are social and technical navigation. Will Richardson highlights some of the findings in his excellent blog post:
“New media allows for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in classroom settings. Youth respect one another’s authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults. Their efforts are also largely self-directed, and the outcome emerges through exploration, in contrast to classroom learning that is oriented toward set, predefined goals.”
The study further found that youth are mostly using social networking and social media to extend their face-to-face friendships. They are exploiting the “always on” nature of the internet and mobile communication to keep in constant contact. However this, along with the permanent nature of so much internet interaction is not without it’s pitfalls, but therein lies another valuable lesson young people are learning: to navigate this new medium gracefully.
“It’s a new world for those privileged enough to have access to the web. The consequences of these changes will unfold in years to come.”
Indeed, in the future we may very well see a break between those that have developed these skills and those that have not.
“Contrary to adult perceptions, while hanging out online, youth are picking up basic social and technological skills they need to fully participate in contemporary society. Erecting barriers to participation deprives teens of access to these forms of learning. Participation in the digital age means more than being able to access “serious” online information and culture. Youth could benefit from educators being more open to forms of experimentation and social exploration that are generally not characteristic of educational institutions.”
So regardless of the detractors, it looks more and more like it will be a social media world in the future. Unfortunately it might take this fresh generation of social media savvy people to transform corporate culture’s understanding and use (or misuse) of this exciting new medium.
The 2008 Crunchie Awards are open for nominations. If you’re a fan of Next2Friends drop by the TechCrunch Crunchie nomination page and cast a ballot for us! The Crunchies is a kitchy and slightly irreverent awards ceremony for new companies, such as Next2Friends, who have been innovating over the past year. In their second year, the awards will be hosted by GigaOm, VentureBeat, Silicon Alley Insider, and TechCrunch on Friday January 9, 2009 at 7:30 pm the Herbst Theater in San Francisco.
To nominate Next2Friends in the Best Mobile category go here:
To nominate Next2Friends in the Best Technology Innovation/Achievement category go here:
To nominate Next2Friends in the Best Design category go here:
This weekend the makers and marketers of Motrin saw the power of Social Media…but not in a positive way. The whole mishap began when Motrin released a new commercial aimed at mothers who carry their babies in slings and harnesses.
The commercial, which was attempting to be light-hearted, ended up offending mothers by insinuating that, among other things, they’re doing it because it’s fashionable. It’s easy to see why some would be offended, it is a poorly crafted message that seems condescending. And, as Jeremiah Owyang states, it is hard to imagine that Motrin tested this message before pushing this ad out.
Now, many top marketers and social media thinkers have spoken on the things Motrin did wrong. Jeremiah Owyang’s “Lessons” are well put:
Lessons Learned
Always test your campaign with a small segment first
Always have staff on hand to be prepared to respond during the weekend
Don’t launch a campaign right before the weekend unless you’re prepared to respond
The participants have the power, so participate
For better or for worse, more influencers are talking about Motrin than ever before
All is Not Lost
There are a couple of winners in this scenario. The biggest is Social Media. You can bet that if companies didn’t consider Social Media in their campaigns before, many will now. And ultimately Motrin wins something for the added bump in brand awareness, regardless of the negative nature. That’s one small step for Motrin and one giant leap for Social Media. Thanks Motrin!
There is no doubt that technology can greatly influence society and thereby politics. Consider how greatly the printing press came to effected Europe’s Reformation, the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, or the American Revolution and Civil War. Then fast forward to the effect of the telegraph or the first televised presidential debates. With the use of the internet and particularly Social Media we are seeing yet another sea change in the way people gather information and are influenced by technology.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project conducted research in June that outline this shift. In 2008, nearly half of Americans (46%) used the internet, email or a text messaging to get news about the presidential campaign, share their views, or mobilize others. Further, the most common online activities were watching online videos, social networking and making campaign donations. In many cases use of these technologies have doubled or tripled since just 2004.
35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos - nearly triple the level of the 2004 race.
10% say they have used social-networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to gather information or become involved. Two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social-networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.
6% of Americans have made political contributions online, compared with 2% who did during the entire 2004 campaign.
Jeremiah Owyang did some quick election day social networking number crunching as well. He found that in nearly all instances Barack Obama has far outpaced John McCain in the use of Social Media. Barack Obama has 380% more Facebook and Myspace friends, almost a 1000% more Youtube views and 240 times the number of Twitter followers. Will this mean that he will be the next President of the United States? Not necessarily, but you can be sure that future elections will have a growing Social Media component. Good luck to both candidates and regardless of who wins, it will be interesting to see how our new leader deals with the difficult times ahead.
A handful of announcements this week regarding the Android OS add momentum to the uptake of Google’s nascent mobile platform. First, ASUS, the well known computer hardware manufacturer, has announced it’s intention to create Android based handsets for release by mid year 2009. Looks like they will be testing the models in the Taiwanese market first then bringing them to the west.
Asustek’s 3.5G P552w PDA phonePhoto: CJ Liu, Digitimes, October 2008
Second, Motorola has announced that it will be using the Android platform for nearly ALL of it’s mid-level phones. This was an even greater pledge than was first thought a few weeks ago. Motorola also announced that they will be cutting the number of operating systems that they build for from six to three.
Android is very much in it’s infancy. It is only availble on one handset, the G1 by HTC, but there is very serious work being done to ensure its spread. Google has begun talking to some of the leading universities in the US about building curriculum around Android. Universities like Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon. And companies such as Motorola are using Android in products other than mobile phones such as set top boxes for TV.
Add to all this that just this week WalMart and T-Mobile announced they will be offering the HTC G1 at all WalMart stores for $148.88. Putting an Android phone into one of the nation’s most heavily trafficked chains is definitely a good idea. It will be interesting to watch the sales numbers.
The future could be bright for this open source platform. As many others have predicted, we may be set to watch a showdown between an “open” model (Android) and a “closed” model (Apple OS). This could very well be the Apple verses PC struggle of the new millennium.
We’ve been hard at work lately developing all sorts of new features and improvements. The biggest of which was our development of Next2Friends Live for RIM’s BlackBerry Curve and Pearl. But something slipped by virtually unnoticed lately (except by our members) and that is the launch of the Next2Friends Live embeddable widget.
Essentially it is a widget that displays your live videos. You can embed it into anywhere that will let you use HTML code, like Myspace or a personal website. It’s quite simple to use, just copy the embed code from the landing page of your (or anyone’s) Next2Friends Profile, paste it and away you go:
Already members are jumping on this new tool. Have a look at how new member and active blogger dotlizard has utilized the widget on her website. It’s also great for musicians, lifecasters, and anyone with something to promote. It’s pretty clear that fans of virtually anything appreciate the intimacy of live broadcasts from artists and personalities. But that is not to count out how families and friends are using it to offer a window into their life’s little happenings for one another. All great stuff, we’re quite pleased with the response so far and ask that you stay tuned for even more features in the coming weeks!
