Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr have all warned their users that some of their data might be compromised after a security breach at Zendesk, a company which provides customer support services for all three companies.

In a blog post titled "We've been hacked," Zendesk explains that a hacker has accessed their systems and probably downloaded user info from Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest users.

"We’ve become aware that a hacker accessed our system this week. As soon as we learned of the attack, we patched the vulnerability and closed the access that the hacker had. Our ongoing investigation indicates that the hacker had access to the support information that three of our customers store on our system. We believe that the hacker downloaded email addresses of users who contacted those three customers for support, as well as support email subject lines. We notified our affected customers immediately and are working with them to assist in their response," wrote Zendesk's Mikkel Svane in the blog post.

All three companies promptly sent a notice to users, explaining the nature of the data breach.

"Twitter – along with a number of other companies – uses a customer support portal called Zendesk. Zendesk recently blogged about a significant security breach. In order to ensure those who may be impacted by this breach are notified as quickly as possible, we are sending this notification to all email addresses, including this one, that we believe could have been involved. Zendesk’s breach did not result in the exposure of information such as Twitter account passwords. It may, however, have included contact information you provided when submitting a support request such as an email, phone number, or Twitter username," wrote Twitter in a message.

Pinterest and Tumblr sent similar e-mails to their users as well.

"For the last 2.5 years, we’ve used a popular service called Zendesk to store, organize, and answer emails to Tumblr Support. We’ve learned that a security breach at Zendesk has affected Tumblr and two other companies. We are sending this notification to all email addresses that we believe may have been affected by this breach.This has potentially exposed records of subject lines and, in some cases, email addresses of messages sent to Tumblr Support," wrote Tumblr.

Tumblr also advises that users review their correspondence with the following Tumblr support addresses: support@tumblr.com, abuse@tumblr.com, dmca@tumblr.com,legal@tumblr.com, enquiries@tumblr.com, or lawenforcement@tumblr.com.

"We’re sending you this email because we received or answered a message from you using Zendesk. Unfortunately your name, email address and subject line of your message were improperly accessed during their security breach," wrote Pinterest in its e-mail to users.

It seems no passwords have been compromised in the hack on any of the three service. However, as always, users are advised to use strong passwords, use different passwords for different services and never to reveal their passwords to third parties.


























View the Original article

If you’re tweeting out a URL, your tweets just got a bit shorter.

Starting Wednesday, any tweet sent with a URL will be reduced to 118 characters, or 117 for https links.
First announced in December, the reduction is due to a change in Twitter’s t.co link wrapper. It extends the maximum length of t.co wrapped links from 20 to 22 characters for non-https URLs and from 21 to 23 characters for https URLs.

In short, the condensed links now take up a bit more space, leaving you with a little less space to add commentary with them. In total, the update represents a two-character drop per tweet.

Applications that use t.co wrapped lengths are required to accommodate the new lengths starting Wednesday.

Will Twitter's new t.co length reduction change how you tweet? Let us know in the comments, below.

















View the Original article

Twitter sometimes feels like a spectator sport. You sit on the sidelines and watch the passing parade with bemusement, interest and often amazement.

The torrent of tweets and interactions vary from hard sell, links to valuable content and humor all the way to inspirational quotes. It is nothing more than a snapshot of humanity in 140 characters.

It is the good, the bad and the ugly.

Despite its simplicity it has nuanced  customs that people new to Twitter need to understand. Good habits always go a long way in any society and correct Twitter manners are important if you want to impress the netizens of the online equivalent of texting on steroids.

Twitter and dating

When on a date, one should have proper etiquette! Just like being on a date, when you are tweeting away on twitter, one should also have proper etiquette. TWITIQUETTE if you prefer!

So how does one have awesome Twitiquette?

Follow these simple rules and you will get more followers and better engagement.

Rule #1

Don’t start a tweet with a hashtag. Let us see your thought, idea, comment, or story first.

Rule #2

Please, please don’t use more than 3 hashtags in a tweet. If you do use three hashtags, do it sparingly. It’s just annoying.

Rule #3

This rule is going to go against what most “tweeps” believe! Don’t strive for followers. Strive for engagement. Ask people questions and engage with them! They’ll like it. In the long run, you’ll get more followers this way.

Rule #4

Some people just don’t follow back. That doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t interact with you! Tweet them a question, idea, or story.

Rule #5

Even though you have a maximum of 140 characters, you don’t have to use all 140 characters. Try using around 120 characters. This will allow other tweeps the ability to retweet you.

Rule #6
Add a profile picture. Enough said. You’d be surprised at how many people don’t add a profile picture.

Rule #7

If you were selling your house, would you make it look nice for an open house or showing? Absolutely! Same applies for you twitter handle. Add a background, make it look nice.

Rule #8

Should you come across a spam account (and you will) please report them. The less spam accounts there are on twitter, the better it will be for all of us.

Rule #9

Add a description. By looking at some of your information, Tweeps who don’t know you will be able to find out what to Tweet with you about?

Rule #10

If you’re struggling on determining how long your tweet should be, what your tweet should contain, hashtags, etc. remember to K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid.).

Rule #11

In the end, just be yourself. Be authentic. Create value and enrich people’s tweets with great content!
After all it’s just Twitter, it should be fun































View the Original article

Social media marketing is the beckoning and shiny new toy.

It started as clever but simple to use online technology where you could share multi-media content with friends, family and school colleagues. It was fun, engaging and it has touched the social human global psyche.

It happened because the intersection of technologies such as cheap high speed internet, low cost hard disk storage and software that made using social network platforms as easy as writing a Microsoft “Word”  document became aligned at the same time.
Even the older generation found they could use Facebook!

CEO’s, business owners and management initially saw it as a distraction from serious business and traditional marketing. How could you take Facebook seriously when it it was the social network that the son or daughter used it to share their party photos from Saturday night.

What was the point of a a 140 character tweet?

Then the penny dropped.

Large brands realized that the marketing leverage and amplification that the “many to many” crowd sourced global conversations could bring to their marketing strategy was sizable and significant.

Coca Cola changed its marketing strategy from creative excellence to content excellence. They had realized that social media was able to spread their content and ideas with velocity and the crowd could create and share more stories on social networks than they could ever hope to buy.

Small to medium business were provided free marketing tools that they could use themselves to promote their business.

The democratization of marketing was now evident.

Along with this realization many myths abvout social media marketing have been spread that have caused confusion and disillusionment when the return on investment didn’t materialize or wasn’t apparent.

Myth #1. It’s Simple

There are many myths about social media marketing but the biggest one by far is that it is easy and can be done by an intern at lunch time.

For small, medium to large enterprises is it is far from simple because social media marketing does not scale very easily and it requires many resources, skills and processes that until recently were at an adolescent stage of development.

With social media marketing you need to:

• Write, film and snap the images and capture the content
• Edit the content into a creative format that entertains, educates and inspires
• Create it for the different types of media such as video, text (for blog posts), Twitter tweets, Facebook updates, Pinterest images and other major social media networks
• Establish processes that control the publishing and monitoring of the content that is spread globally by many individuals within one organisation that keeps the brand police happy
• Publish it on multiple networks,
• Optimise it for a variety of multimedia formats
• Develop and optimize it for many types of screens including laptops, iPad, iPhone, Android smart phones and tablets so that it renders properly and is easily viewed and consumed
• Optimise the content and platforms for search engines
• Monitor and measure the data you receive to see what works and what doesn’t

It is becoming a deluge of data on many social networks.

So far organisations in the main are using disparate and multiple tools such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and Klout that add a layer of complexity and are silos of data and processes that do not lend themselves to the era of big social data.

Help is at hand.

Tools and processes are emerging to make it possible to do social at scale.

Vendors such as Sprinklr, Exact Target, Adobe, Brightcove and Viral Heat are amongst many companies that are developing enterprise class tools that are offering the promise of one stop social solutions platforms that will enable organisations to provide “social at scale”

The Altimeter Group and Jeremiah Owyang have surveyed over 3 dozen vendors that offer the promise of providing the holy grail of “social at scale”. These are revealed in this presentation on Slideshare.

To properly create , publish and manage this social data explosion we are seeing the emerging need in marketing agencies (and major brand marketing teams) for not just “creative” talents but people who understand technology intimately.

It could be that the “Geeks will inherit the earth” in a knowledge and technology driven economy and culture.

Maybe we are seeing the rise of the “Ninja Nerd” who understands technology and the creative process on an increasingly social web.

I look forward to seeing this emerging evolution of social media marketing as it moves from adolescent promise to mature and robust business class platforms and processes.

Myth #2.  It’s Free

Planning , creating content, optimizing for search, publishing to multiple platforms takes time. Time is money.
The professionals with the skills and experience to make social media marketing successful are increasingly in demand and they need to be paid. In a lot of cases the free tools to manage and monitor the data explosion are not adequate to provide the insights needed to manage, sift and sort the data.

Enterprise class tools are not free. Participating on Facebook may cost nothing and tweeting is free but the content and eco-sytem to support a sustained social media marketing effort requires budget and commitment. Professional videos still cost money to produce and edit.

Free tools doesn’t mean that social media marketing is free.

Myth #3. It’s Just Facebook

Many organisations think that because Facebook dominates the social media numbers game with nearly one billion users, that it is the only social media network to consider in a social media marketing strategy.

Facebook only allows less than 15% of your updates to appear in your Facebook followers timelines through its “Edge Rank” algorithms.

If you are a B2B organisation then LinkedIn could be a social network you want to embrace firmly. LinkedIn is also one of the fastest growing social networks.

Twitter can be used to create a targeted group of followers that is expensive and slow to build on Facebook.
The rise of an increasingly visual web has made social media such as Instagram and Pinterest networks increasingly attractive as part of your social media marketing strategy. Some case studies are revealing that Pinterest is more effective than Facebook in driving social commerce. The online boutique store Boticca’s data is evidence of that.

The basics of marketing must not be forgotten in the frenzy of social media mayhem.

Myth #4. Social Media is the “Silver Bullet”

Social media is not your marketing saviour.

You need to have contagious content on your websites and blog that people will want to share on social networks. You need to  relentlessly build followers, tribes and subscribers. This takes commitment and persistence. Don’t forget the role of traditional media such as email marketing.

Remember to continue to optimize  your online properties for search engines. Being found on Google is still a “must do”. If you aren’t doing this then you need to reconsider some of your marketing budget priorities.

Social media marketing advertising is still only $5 billion and search engine marketing spend is 10 times larger at $50 billion plus. Why?…because it works.

Facebook maybe sexy and funky but Google is still king of online and its Google+ network is close to reaching a tipping point in social media consciousness.

What About You?

What has been your experience with social media? Has it been effective? Are you struggling to perform “social at scale”.

What has been your return on investment? Have you been able to measure it?

What other marketing works for you? Has email marketing been important to your tactics?

Are you paying enough attention to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so people looking for you online can find your in search engines results pages?

Look forward to hearing your stories and successes.



































View the Original article

When I signed up to social media over four years ago you could almost count the number of tweets with a pen and a piece of paper.

.

Facebook had not even cracked 50 million users. Now it is approaching one billion users globally which is one in every seven people on the planet using the Facebook social media network.

That equates to nearly one in two internet users!

Today you almost need a supercomputer that can measure and monitor this deluge and torrent of big data that is exhibiting social at scale.

Torrent of Data

At a conference in 2010 Eric Schmidt the then CEO of Google stated.

“Every two days, we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003”

This information includes content such as emails, tweets, Facebook updates, Photos, YouTube video uploads and text messages.

Two years later we have a ferocious fire hose of content creation that is shared online with the 2012 Olympics producing a staggering 306 billion items on the open Web in just 17 days.

That is every person on the planet creating 44 pieces of information in just over 2 weeks.

So what are the social media statistics, facts and figures from the 2012 Olympics?

Statistics for Social Media Sharing

As the social web grows and permeates every facet of the online world these numbers will continue to skyrocket.

• 306 billion items shared on the World Wide Web
• 208,333 shares per second on the open web
• Facebook was the winner in terms of social sharing with 102 billion shares including photos, timeline updates and videos
• Twitter handled 5 billion tweets
• Usain Bolt ran ran the 100 metres in just 9.63 seconds and by the time he reached the finish line over 2 million items were shared
• Michael Phelps generated the most online traffic and shares at 3 million items per day.

It was also calculated that 27% of Americans watched the Olympics at work which is an estimated loss of $1.4 billion in productivity.

The reality is that the Olympics is now over and it is “back to work”.


Infographic by RadiumOne








































View the Original article

Ever heard the name Guy Adams before this weekend? How about Gary Zenkel? No, me neither. Not until Twitter suspended the former, a British journalist based in LA, for tweeting the corporate e-mail address of the latter, the president of NBC Olympics — and created a tempest in a tea cup.

Not only was Twitter’s reaction completely disproportionate, there’s one major problem with it: he didn’t actually violate Twitter’s terms of service.

Adams, like a lot of us here on the West Coast, was upset that NBC had delayed broadcasting the London Olympics’ opening ceremony Friday night — so much so that the Pacific time zone was seeing it six hours after it actually happened (and three hours after our friends on the East Coast started tweeting like crazy about it.)

Plenty of critics vented their outrage at NBC’s policy (which included not putting the opening ceremony online, presumably to make more money from ads broadcast during prime time). Adams probably went a little further than most, calling the action “money grabbing” and decrying the network as “utter bastards.”

Then he wrote this fateful tweet: “The man responsible for NBC pretending the Olympics haven’t started yet is Gary Zenkel. Tell him what u think! Email: Gary.zenkel@nbcuni.com.”

The network complained, and Adams’ entire Twitter account was suspended Monday. The reason, he was told by a Twitter representative, was that he had violated Twitter’s terms of service by posting a private email address. NBC confirmed this in a statement to Mashable: “A user tweeted the personal information of one of our executives. According to Twitter, this is a violation of their privacy policy. Twitter alone levies discipline.”

Was that the case, though? Leave aside the question of whether a corporate email address counts as private. Let’s just assume that it does. Here’s what Twitter has to say about posting private information:
Posting another person’s private and confidential information is a violation of the Twitter Rules.

Some examples of private and confidential information are: credit card information, social security or other national identity numbers, addresses or locations that are considered and treated as private, non-public, personal phone numbers, non-public, personal email addresses.

Keep in mind that although you may consider certain information to be private, not all postings of such information may be a violation of this policy. If information was previously posted or displayed elsewhere on the Internet prior to being put on Twitter, it is not a violation of this policy. [Emphasis mine]

So if Zenkel’s email address was posted anywhere on the Internet prior to Friday, Adams is off the hook and his account should be restored. Right?

I’ll admit, the search is a wee bit harder than it should be. Currently, the first 8 pages of results for Zenkel’s email address on Google is clogged up with stories about Adams. (This is my point about creating a tempest in a tea cup; as a direct result of the suspension, Zenkel’s email has become one of the most public on the planet.)

But way down on page 9, we find what would have been the previous top result for Zenkel’s email address: this blog post from June 20, 2011, criticizing NBC Sports for removing the words “under God” from the pledge of allegiance during the U.S. Open.

Whatever you make of that post and the controversy it refers to, you can’t deny that it contain’s Zenkel’s email address, along with those of a long list of NBC Sports executives.

So Zenkel’s email address was “previously posted or displayed elsewhere on the Internet prior to being put on Twitter,” and Adam’s posting of it “is not a violation of this policy.” Game over, checkmate, or as Adams might say: howzat?

I’m not saying that this blog post is how Adams got the address; it has been noticeably absent from his defense. All his recent article in the Independent says is that anyone could construct that address from a basic knowledge of how NBC handles its accounts.

But you don’t even need to go that far. You don’t need to point out that the address is corporate, rather than personal. You need only point to Twitter’s own definition of its rules.

We’ve asked Twitter for comment, and will let you know what we hear back. But don’t be surprised to see Adams’ account reinstated — the company has a history of acting precipitously when it comes to account deletions, then reversing its decision later.











































View the Original article

Twitter, the next big reality TV platform? The social networking site is reportedly talking to Hollywood producers and networks about launching several reality TV shows that would stream on its site.

According to an AdWeek report, serious talks are already underway for the initiative. A source close to the matter said content would be similar to popular MTV reality shows such as The Hills and Real World.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

The move would be a part of a greater effort to enter the broadcasting world. It’s been recently reported that the company is partnering with NBC during the 2012 Olympics to serve as a hub dedicated to covering the event. Meanwhile, Twitter similarly worked with ESPN in May to create custom ad programs around major sporting events.

Twitter will likely have dedicated pages for each reality show, along with an embedded video player. The site has also been discussing advertising opportunities with potential partners that could bring in deals in the $4 million range, AdWeek said.

Would you watch a Twitter-branded reality show? Would you watch a show in general on the social network? Let us know in the comments.
BONUS: 9 Newsworthy Twitpics That Captivated the World ">

1. Haitian Earthquake

Haitian radio and TV host Carel Pedre captured a series of memorable images during January 2010. Pedre was given a special "humanitarian" award at the second annual "Shorty Awards"
for his communications via Twitter during the crisis.

2. Miracle on the Hudson

"There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy." So read Janis Krums' Twitpic description, posted on January 15, 2009. Miraculously, all passengers onboard were rescued.

3. CCTV Tower Fire in Beijing

Twitter user green67 was on hand to capture this dramatic photo as a notable business complex containing the celebrated CCTV tower in Beijing was burnt to the ground.

4. Turkish Airlines Crash

The news of a Turkish Airlines crash at an Amsterdam airport in February 2009 broke on Twitter. Twitter user Diederik uploaded the first image of the downed plane as official news outlets were still trying to confirm details of the incident. The image has nearly 100,000 views.

5. Schultz Pass Fire

The Schultz Pass Fire in June 2010 spread across 5,000 acres and saw more than 750 homes evacuated. Lorraine B. Elder captured some striking panoramas of the fire, which she shared on Twitpic, giving those outside Arizona an amazing view of the catastrophe.

6. Mexicali Earthquake

Beto Peralta's image of a Mexicali house damaged by the 7.2 earthquake in April 2010 has been viewed more than 35,000 times -- a stat that shows the power of the platform.

7. Civil Unrest in Egypt

Architect Mahmoud El-Nahas says "[I] just found myself in #Jan25." This image shows the sheer size of the crowd, especially when compared to the small group of officers amongst them.

8. Christchurch Earthquake

We have seen many images via Twitter of the terrible devastation in Christchurch following the recent earthquake, but TVNZ's Charlotte Bellis captured this moment just after the quake struck. The dust is still settling in the wake of the disaster.

9. Port-au-Prince

Astronaut Soichi Noguchi has captivated many with his amazing Twitpics from the International Space Station -- many of the images have racked up more than 50,000 views each. This image of Port-au-Prince was taken 12 days after the January 12, 2010 earthquake and has been viewed more than 40,000 times.














































View the Original article

Social media is emerging from its adolescent phase and is rapidly maturing.


Initially social networks had an image problem with some CEO’s and executives thinking Facebook was for teenagers to post the weekend’s party photos and Twitter was for narcisstic attention seekers with a limited vocabulary.


There was also an initial perception that because the platforms were free to use that participating was cheap and easy. Experience has shown otherwise.

Social media, blogging and digital content creation are resource intensive and doing it right takes time and money.

Tools and time saving apps are emerging to help companies to be more efficient and able to manage, control and  monitor social media. These functions and features are also being integrated into Enterprise class software solutions.

Social media has grown up and is now accepted as mainstream by companies including the Fortune Global 100. These companies include Ford, Walmart and BP.

Facebook , Twitter, Google+, YouTube and the fast emerging Pinterest have all been embraced by the top companies as they find ways to leverage their brands globally.

Burson-Marsteller first launched a study in 2010 that looked closely at how companies were adapting to this new media. Here are their 2012 findings

5 Insights into Global Social Media

In 2010 the Fortune 100 were participating on social media but not to the extent they are now. The social networks were used for broadcasting but there was limited engagement. In 2012 they are having constant conversations with their customers and followers and creating vast amounts of  digital content.

What are the top 5 findings from their latest research?

1. Twitter is more than 50% of the Conversations

Corporations, Brands and organisations have realized that  social media spreads stories in real time and at high velocity. In 2012 the Fortune Global 100 are mentioned 10.4 million times per month with Twitter transmitting 5.6 million of those conversations. This represents a growth in Twitter conversations of over 700% in just 2 years.

Gone are the days when PR companies were clipping media mentions from newspapers and magazines and posting them to the corporation via snail mail.

2.  YouTube is a Serious Media Channel

In just one year YouTube use has increased by 39 percent. It is no longer considered a channel for just entertainment but also education and positioning and branding. Corporate YouTube channels are averaging over 2 million views. This growth in conversations and views by customers is making it compulsory for companies to participate on social networks.  The social networks are proving to be a great source of free media attention that is not paid but earned.

3. Engagement is the Norm

Organisations are not just broadcasting but engaging with their customers and prospects. On Twitter 79 percent of companies are engaging via retweeting and @mentions. On Facebook 70 percent of brands are are responding to comments on their walls and timelines.

4. Multiple Accounts are Common

The average number of multiple social media accounts has soared since 2010. The number of average Twitter accounts is now over ten (up from four since 2010)  and over 8 YouTube channels (up from 1.6 in 2010). This is because companies have realized that they need to target audiences by geography, topic and service. The larger organisations now have both the tools and the resources allocated.

5. Companies are Rapidly Adapting to New Platforms

In the last twelve months Google+ and Pinterest have entered the social networking ecosystem. Companies have quickly embraced these channels with  nearly 50 perecent of the Fortune Global 100 on Google+ brand pages and 25 percent on Pinterest.


Infographic source: Burson-Marsteller







































View the Original article

Social media and inbound marketing techniques have been a boon for marketers. Not only do leads generated through social and content marketing cost half as much as traditional outbound-generated leads (see below), they also close at higher rate (again, see below).




And social media isn’t just about lead generation of course. While prospective buyers are using search and social to research products and services before making purchase decisions, marketers and PR professionals can use those same tools to research buyer wants and needs. And their competition. And…even social media itself.

Which brings us to this post. Wondering which social network is most effective at generating b2b leads? What marketing technique generates leads with the highest close ratio? What the best day of the week is for Facebook posting? Which U.S. city produces the largest share of “pins”on Pinterest?

Find the answers to those questions and many, many more in this collection of 72 fascinating social media marketing facts and stats for 2012.

Social Media / Social Networking

1. The average midsize or large company (1000 employees or more) has 178 “social media assets” (Twitter handles, employee blogs, etc.)–yet only 25% of companies offer social business training to their employees. (Marketingeasy)

2. B2b marketers believe social media is critical to organic search success. Marketers rate social media as the second-most imporant factor (64%) in search, behind only strong content (82%). (BtoB Magazine)

3. Although Facebook is the most important social media lead generation tool for b2c marketers (with 77% saying they had had acquired a customer through Facebook, compared to 60% for a company blog), among B2B companies, LinkedIn was the most effective, with 65% having acquired a customer through the professional network, followed by company blogs (60%), Facebook (43%), and Twitter (40%). (Marketing Charts)

4. The best way to “go viral” is to engage millions of users, each of whom share through small networks. “Online sharing, even at viral scale, takes place through many small groups, not via the single status post or tweet of a few influencers…Content goes viral when it spreads beyond a particular sphere of influence and spreads across the social web via ordinarily people sharing with their friends…the median ratio of Facebook views to shares (is) merely 9-to-1. This means that for every Facebook share, only nine people visited the story. Even the largest stories on Facebook are the product of lots of intimate sharing—not one person sharing and hundreds of thousands of people clicking.” (Ad Age)

5. LinkedIn generates more leads for b2b companies than Facebook, Twitter or blogs. Yet only 47% of b2b marketers say they are actively using LinkedIn vs. 90% on Facebook. (Social Media B2B)

6. One-third of global b2b buyers use social media to engage with their vendors, and 75% expect to use social media in future purchases processes. (Social Media B2B)

7. “Best in class” b2b companies are significantly more likely than average firms to integrate their social media efforts with their email marketing (65% vs. 51%), SEO (61% vs. 49%) and webinars (47% vs. 31%). (MarketingProfs)

8. As for “best in class” practices, 51% of best-in-Class companies use website social sharing tools, compared to 36% of average firms while 49% use keyword-based social media monitoring, compared with 39% of their more average peers. (MarketingProfs)

9. Top executives need to be involved in social media. 77% of buyers say they are more likely to buy from a company whose CEO uses social media. 94% said C-suite social media participation enhances a brand image. And 82% of employees say they trust a company more when the CEO and leadership team communicate via social media. (eMarketer)

User Experience

Want more registrations on your website? Consider offering a social login (i.e., the ability for visitors to register at and log in to your site using one of their existing social network profiles rather than creating a new login):

10. 86% of people say they are bothered by the need to create new accounts at websites. (MarketingSherpa)

11. 77% responded that social login is “a good solution that should be offered.” (MarketingSherpa)

12. 21% of “best in class” companies use social sign-in, compared to 8% of average-performing firms. (MarketingProfs)

Lead Nurturing

13. Only 27% of B2B leads are sales-ready when first generated. This makes lead nurturing essential for capitalizing on the other 73%. But 65% of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing campaigns. (MarketingSherpa)

14. SEO-driven leads have the highest lead-to-close rate (15%) among common lead generation sources. Paid search leads average a 7% rate, while outbound marketing leads (e.g., direct mail, telemarketing) close at a 2% rate. (Econsultancy)

Facebook

15. B2C Facebook interaction is 30% higher than average on Sundays. (Mindjumpers)

16. Though nearly every large charity and university in America has a Facebook presence, less than 60% of the Fortune 500 do. (Mindjumpers)

17. 95% of Facebook wall posts are not answered by brands. (Mindjumpers)

18. Though Facebook continues to add users, U.S. members are becoming less active there. Between mid-2009 and late 2011, “messaging friends declined 12%, searching for new contacts fell 17% and joining a group of Facebook users dropped 19% in the U.S.” (MediaPost)

19. 70% of local businesses use Facebook.The U.S. has the largest number of Facebook users. The country with the second-largest Facebook population: Indonesia.  (Jeff Bullas)

20. Facebook is the leading source of referred social media traffic to websites, at 26%. Twitter is second at 3.6%. (Pooky Shares)

21. Facebook marketing is a specialized skill. For those looking to outsource this function to a professional consultant, expect to pay $500-$1,500 for initial page setup and anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 per month for ongoing content management and curation. (Mack Collier)

22. 52% of consumers say they have stopped following a brand on Facebook because the information it posted had become “too repetitive and boring.” (SMI)

Twitter

23. There are now roughly 100 million active Twitter users (those who log in at least once per day). (Mindjumpers)

24. 34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter, and 20% have closed deals. (Mindjumpers)

25. 40% of Twitter users rarely post anything but primarily consume content there. 55% access Twitter via a mobile device. (Mindjumpers)

26. 92% of retweets are based on “interesting content.” Only 26% are due to inclusion of “please RT!” in the tweet. (Mindjumpers)

27. Twitter now has 200 million users, including 8% of the U.S. population. About one-quarter of all users are considered “extremely active,” checking in several times per day. (Jeff Bullas)

28. 55% of all Twitter users use the service to share links to news stories, and 53% retweet others. (Jeff Bullas)

29. 77 of the world’s 100 largest companies maintain a corporate Twitter account. But media outlets are the most active users. (Jeff Bullas)

30. Most professional consultants charge $500-$1,000 to set up a Twitter account (optimized bio, custom background etc.) and $500-$1,500 per month for ongoing management (dependent on level of activity and amount of content). (Mack Collier)

Google and Google+

31. Google’s search engine is used by 85% of global Internet users every month. (MediaPost)

32. Google+ is expected to reach 400 million users by the end of 2012. It’s membership is 63% male, with the largest cohort in their mid-20s. While the largest block of users by country are in the U.S., the second largest is India. However, only 17% of users are considered “active.” (Jeff Bullas)

Pinterest

33. The image-based social network has grown 4,000% in the past six months, now boasts more than 4 million users, and keeps those users engaged: the average Pinterest user spends nearly an hour-and-a-half per month on the site, behind only Facebook and Tumblr. (Jeff Bullas)

34. 83% of Pinterest users are women. In the U.S., the most popular categories are Fashion, Desserts, Clothes and Birthdays. (MediaPost)

35. But in the U.K., the five most popular topics on Pinterest are Venture Capital, Blogging Resources, Crafts, Web Analytics and SEO/Marketing. (Pooky Shares)

36. 22% of all pins come from New York, followed by Los Angeles at 15%. A higher percentage come from Minneapolis (10%) than from San Francisco (8%)–even though Pinterest is based in Palo Alto. (MediaPost)

37. Pinterest is virtually tied with Twitter (at 3.6%) for the amount of referred social traffic it sends to websites. (Pooky Shares)

Tumblr

38. Tumblr grew 900% in 2011 and now has 90 million users. However, just 2% of members account for more than 40% of all traffic. (Jeff Bullas)

39. The five most popular tags for Tumblr posts are GIF, LOL, Fashion, Art and Vintage. The U.S. has the largest share of users, followed by Brazil. (Jeff Bullas)

Mobile Marketing

40. 4.8 billion people now own mobile phones. Just 4.2 billion own a toothbrush. (Mindjumpers)

41. One-third of smartphones globally use the Android OS. (MediaPost)

42. The number of tablets in use in the U.S. rose from 34 million in 2011 to 55 million this year and is expected to reach 108 million by 2015. (TMGmedia)

43. Mobile commerce is projected to ten-fold from 2010 ($3 billion) to 2016 ($31 billion). (TMGmedia)

44. While three-quarters of b2b marketers are aware of the growing importance of mobile devices, only 23% rate mobile search as either “important” or “critical” to their search marketing objectives. (BtoB Magazine)

45. Just 16% of b2b marketers are producing mobile-specific content as part of their content marketing efforts. (Smart Insights)

46. Although the percentage of visits to b2b websites coming from smart phones has increased nearly 50% in the past year, they still represent only about 1 out of every 24 sites visits on average. (Webbiquity)

SEO and Search Marketing

47. 57% of B2B marketers say SEO has the biggest impact on their lead generation goals. (Mindjumpers)

48. Though half of all b2b digital spending is focused on search and most websites are organically optimized, only 65% of b2b marketers have ever used pay-per-click advertising. (BtoB Magazine)

49. Search provides the highest quality leads. According to research by HubSpot, “SEO leads have a 15% close rate, on par with the close rate for direct traffic, and ahead of referrals (9%), paid search (7%), social media (4%), and outbound leads (2%).” (Marketing Charts)

Blogging

50. Social media sites and blogs reach 80% of all U.S. internet users. (Mindjumpers)

51. Social networks and blogs account for 23% of all time spent online — twice as much as gaming. (Mindjumpers)

52. “Increased frequency of blogging correlates with increased customer acquisition, according to…HubSpot. 92% of of blog users who posted multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog, a figure that decreased to 66% for those who blogged monthly and 43% for those who posted less than monthly.” (Marketing Charts)

53. The most popular frequency for blog posting is weekly (60% of bloggers). Just 10% post daily. (Marketing Charts)

54. Blogs are the single most important inbound marketing tool. “When asked to rank the importance of the services they use, 25% of users rated their company blog as critical to their business, while a further 56% considered them either important (34%) or useful (22%)” for a total of 81%. (Marketing Charts)

55. B2B companies with blogs generate 67% more leads per month on average than non-blogging firms. (Social Media B2B)

56. For those looking to outsource, a professional consultant will generally charge $1,000-$3,000 for setting up a blog, $1,000-$3,000 per month for ongoing content development/editing, and ballpark of $200 for a single guest post. (Mack Collier)

Video and SlideShare

57. 52% of b2b marketers use video as part of their content marketing mix. (Smart Insights)

58. Video production costs vary widely, depending on length, quality, type of content and other factors. High-end animated videos can cost $20,000-$30,000, while simpler interview-type videos can be under $1,000. Common 2- to 3-minute videos with a mix of live action and simple animation typically cost $2,000-$5,000. (Mack Collier)

59. SlideShare draws 60 million visitors per month; but most importantly for b2b marketers, it attracts 3X more traffic from business owners than any other social media site. (Jeff Bullas)

Social Demographics

60. On social networking sites, men and women are about equally willing to share their real names (both about 87%), political and religious affiliation, and the brands they like (~77%), but men are far more likely than women to share their physical address (11% vs. 4%), their current location (35% vs. 20%), their phone number 15% vs. 4%), and their income level (16% vs. 5%). (AllTwitter)

61. Contrary to what you’ve probably been told, longer format video may actually drive higher engagement: “different types of content yield different sharing behaviors. Breaking down video behavior within StumbleUpon, videos viewed between two to three minutes found a spike in sharing out to social media, whereas videos viewed beyond four minutes see direct shares increase by five times. Longer, arguably more involved, content may drive viewers to more intimate sharing routes.” (Ad Age)

Inbound and Content Marketing

62. 90% of b2b marketers do some form of content marketing. 26% of b2b marketing budgets are invested in content, and 60% of b2b marketers say they plan to spend more on content marketing in the coming year. (Smart Insights)

63. The most popular content marketing tactics used by b2b marketers are article posting (used by 79% of b2b marketers), social media excluding blogs (74%), blogs (65%) and enewsletters (63%). Just 10% use virtual conferences. (Smart Insights)

64. The average cost to generate a lead through inbound marketing ($143) is about half the average for outbound marketing ($373). (Econsultancy)

65. Small businesses, on average, spend twice the share of their lead generation budget (43%) on inbound marketing as do large companies (21%). Small organiations spend more than twice as much on social media and 3X as much on blogging as their larger counterparts, while big businesses spend three times as much on trade shows and nearly twice the share of their budget on direct mail as do smaller firms. (Econsultancy)

66. More is (often at least) better. Businesses with 40+ different landing pages/offers generate 10X more leads than those with five or fewer landing pages, and those with 200 or more total blog posts generate 3.5X more leads than those whose blogs have 20 or fewer posts. (Econsultancy)

67. 84% of b2b companies are using some form of social media marketing. However, “best in class” companies generate over 3X their share of all leads (17% vs. 5%) from social media as do average performing companies. (MarketingProfs)

68. 90% of b2b marketers are doing some form of content marketing, and b2b marketers spend on average 26% of their marketing budgets on content. The most effective content marketers spend twice as much as their less effective peers on content development, and consider buying stage when developing content. (B2B Marketing Insider)

69. It shouldn’t be a surprise, but content has to be good in order to be effective. B2b buyers say that less than half of vendor content is useful–and vendors who produce such low-value content are 27% less likely to be considered and 40% less likely to win the business. “Good” content is concise, entertaining (includes stories), more educational than promotional, and is contextually personalized. (B2B Marketing Insider)

Media and Online Advertising

70. Most “national” newspapers are still quite regional: the Chicago Tribune gets socially shared at above average levels only in Illinois, the Washington Post only in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland, and the New York Times only in a clump of northeastern states and Hawaii (though the Wall Street Journal is very popular in Arizona). Fox News is most popular in the southeastern U.S. plus Nevada and Alaska, while the Huffington Compost is widely share along the Interstate 35 corridor (Minnesota to Texas), Florida, Oregon, Maine and the rustbelt. (Forbes)

71. Online CPM rates have little correlation with actual advertiser value delivered. Nearly one-third of all display ads are never seen (defined as 50% of the pixels in view for at least one second). But contrary to popular belief, “below the fold” ads don’t necessarily have lower impression rates than those placed high on the page. (MediaPost)

72. Leaderboard (728 x 90 pixels) and medium rectangle (300 x 250) ad sizes have the highest view-in rates. Coupon and directory sites have the highest ad view rates, both over 80%. In contrast, a sponsor’s ads had just a 27% likelihood of being seen on pet-oriented sites. (MediaPost)




































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1. @_VonCount

Who loves to count? Count Von Count does, that's who -- and he will make sure that you know it if you talk about him on Twitter.

2. @Betelgeuse_3

Don't say it...you know what will happen.

3. @RedScareBot

A Joe McCarthy spambot filters through the Twitter "black list" by searching for anyone tweeting about communism.

4. @LogicalB0t

Professor Spock in spambot form seems to selectively tweet anyone who talks online about space, NASA, the Enterprise, Spock and other geeky topics.

5. @KingLeonidaz_

Any Twitter users claiming something is "madness" will get a famous response from the spambot version of 300's King Leonidas.

6. @MarmiteBot

Love it or hate it, this Marmite spambot will let you know he's listening.

7. @StealthMountain

Stealth Mountain takes one small step for spambots, and one giant leap for grammar. Anyone misspelling "sneak peek" will be corrected.

8. @THEUNlVERSE

Any philosophies or accusations about the universe will get a witty and sarcastic response.

9. @Jedward

Irish pop duo Jedward has a younger fan base on Twitter, so you can imagine the amount of people getting the "We are Jedwardbot" automated response.

10. @EnjoyTheFilm

Though it's no longer active, Cabin in the Woods fans might have received an unwanted spoiler if they tweet about plans to watch the movie.


Nearly every Twitter user has fallen victim to spam at one point — there’s no argument that it’s annoying and detrimental.

But not all of it is bad — in fact, some of those spambots are not bots at all. There are parody accounts that will filter through specific topics and respond to unsuspecting users, like @THEUNlVERSE.

There are still spam accounts using automated third-party applications too. As Twitter cracks down, the more sophisticated spambots find ways to avoid suspension.

For those who might crack a smile at a harmless spambot reply, see 10 of the funniest accounts in the gallery above.

Can harmless spam be funny when executed properly? Let us know in the comments.










































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Twitter was never designed to be a social network but it has become one.

In fact it was designed initially in 2006 to used by individuals as an SMS type service to communicate with a small group at the podcasting company Odeo. When I first joined Twitter in 2008, I was underwhelmed and wondered as to its usefulness. Its early attraction to me was its novelty factor. It has overcome this challenge and four years later it has built an impressive resume.

• Over 140 million active users as of 2012
• Generates over 340 million tweets daily
• Handles over 1.6 billion search queries per day
• Tenth most visited site on the internet

In the nearly six years since its founding over 600 million users have registered Twitter accounts.

Twitter Provides Leverage

This is Twitter’s biggest and best advantage.

Social media allowed the word “viral” to be associated with marketing rather than the great plagues of the last few centuries. It has enabled the localised and physical word of mouth to now become “world of mouth”.

Social media with its exponential multiplier effect is the amplifying agent that marketers used to dream about. Many business owners still do not understand the global multiplying effect to word of mouth that it brings.

What I Discovered about Twitter

Despite not being impressed initially with its rather simple interface and perceived lack of usefulness I stuck with tweeting an occasional tweet here and there. After playing with it for a few months I discovered it was driving traffic to my blog in numbers that surprised me. It now had my undivided and focused attention!

I realised that if I wanted more traffic to the blog then building a large Twitter tribe of followers could be a great benefit to providing more visibility to my blog.

One Tweet at a Time

Stephen King, the fiction writer who has written 47 novels and according to Forbes earned $39 million last year, when asked, how he was so prolific and successful, had this to say.

“How do you write?” I invariably answer, “One word at a time,” and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time. But I’ve read you can see that motherfucker from space without a telescope.” ― Stephen King

Being successful with Twitter is no different. One tweet at a time.

12 Keys To Success On Twitter

Success on Twitter will take time. It will require patience and persistence. There are many online services promising overnight success. True success takes longer and it takes discipline and commitment.

1. Size matters on Twitter

Don’t believe it when people tell you that its just the quality and not the size of your following on Twitter that matters.That is bollocks! Both are important.

A large Twitter following provides scale and leverage to market your business, blog or website.

Building a Twitter following applies the law of reciprocation. If you follow someone then there is this underlying obligation to follow you back. The more credible your account looks with credibility displayed by links to a blog and a sizeable Twitter following will make you more attractive to be followed back.

2. Build a targeted tribe on Twitter

This is where it starts to scale when you not only have a big following but a tribe that wants to hear what you have to say and links that take them to valuable content that they want to read and view, whether it is yours or another trusted source.

Your tweets need to be relevant to your followers. If you want to build a targeted following then I have found that Tweepi is a great tool to assist you with that (and it is free).

Applying the law of reciprocation, follow people’s (preferably top bloggers with large followings) followers in the market  segment that you’re focused on. In the main these followers are already following that person because they are interested in that topic area. It is a list that is already qualified for you.

For example if I follow Chris Brogan’s followers then I am quite confident that they are interested in social media. If I tweet about social media then they are going to be interested in my links.



There are other tools that you can use to build a Twitter following and another on I use  is Twellow, that is like the yellow pages of Twitter.

3. Tweet “evergreen” content

Online your content defines you.

The challenge for many is coming up with the ideas for tweets and the content that they lead to.

Stephen King reveals the secret  to finding the inspiration and ideas for your content- ”you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot”

Some people fall into the trap of just tweeting news and topical content.

If you want to build and enduring presence on Twitter and on social media including blogs then link to content that is useful and helpful not just this week but also next week and in one years time.

Link to content such as “how to” videos or articles that adds value well into the future and isn’t dated within 24 hours because it is now “old news”. Aim to educate, entertain and inspire and not just inform.

4. Include links to liquid and contagious content

Tweeting great content is essential.

If you want people to share you then you need to make your content compelling and contagious. That could be through assisting people in solving problems.

It must do one of 4 things, inform, educate, inspire or entertain.  This takes work but it can be done.
Create content that is so good it begs to be shared. Coca Cola have realised the power of this and have changed their marketing strategy from “creative excellence” to “content excellence”. Their strategy is labelled as “liquid and linked”.

5. Tweet multimedia content

On Twitter people expect to be taken to content that is multi-media rich. It needs to include media such as videos, Slideshare presentations, podcats, images and photos.

So think multi-media tweets. Twitter is now allowing you to view these within your Twitter account.

6. Visual tweets are vital

There is a significant trend happening on the social web and it is the increasingly important communication technique of getting your message across via visual formats and media. It is showing its power with the rise and growth of platforms and social networks such as Pinterest and Instagram.

It is also evident with the obvious popularity of Infographics. It can be seen in the evolution of Facebook and the emergence of Google+. The images are bigger and beautiful than ever before. Share them on Twitter and watch your engagement and your content sharing grow.

7. Automate Twitter

Many social media purists don’t agree with this but it works and saves a lot of time. I have been labelled a Twitter maverick by some but my principle on this is to “automate the content distribution but not the conversation“. This balances efficiency with engagement. I automate the tweeting of my content about 90% of the time. It provides visibility online and it keeps my content in the Twitter stream. I tweet on average one tweet every 15 minutes.

The two tools that save me 60-70 hours a week and let me sleep are Twitterfeed.com and Social Oomph Professional (a paid service that costs me about $25 a month)

Productivity  tool #1. Socialoomph

This saves me about 80 hours a week at least.



I use social oomph several ways but mostly for these two tasks

• Automates the sending of my tweets
• Automatically follows people back ( I can’t follow manually back 3,000 people a month, I need to sleep!)

Productivity  tool #2. Twitterfeed

I enjoy sharing other bloggers content that I trust. Twitterfeed.com enables me to share their content on Twitter automatically by detecting their RSS feed when they publish their post.



It achieves two objectives. It enables me to continue to share content that adds value and secondly sharing content from other bloggers sometimes ends up in them sharing your content. Send it with their Twitter handle so they know you have tweeted their link. That is what I call a win-win!

8. Learn the art of the Twitter headline

In a world where everyone is time poor you have only seconds to make them click. Your headline is the start of the seduction. It applies to all of your content but on Twitter it is vital.

9. Tweet to all your social network accounts

We all have our preferred social networks. Some are Facebook fanatics, others are LinkedIn legends and some are Twitter twerps. Don’t miss a chance to get your content and brand where your customers hang out. Tweet links to content on a variety od social networks.

Edelman publishes a trust  barometer every year to measure what creates trust online. They have discovered that if someone only sees your brand once your trust factor is only 4%. If they see you mentioned 3-5 times it rises above 50%.

The lesson here is “be seen everywhere” Tweet links to content that is published to the major social networks in a variety of formats.

10. Tweets should have a home

Your Twitter account should link to a home that you own. You should also be tweeting links to take people to that hub (it could be a blog or a website). Don’t build your home portal to the web on someome else’s platform. Build your own foundation and hub. This should be a blog with your domain name and that is self hosted.

Don’t sign away your rights to your content to someone else. Sure, post your articles to your Facebook page or a Tumblr account but don’t hand over the keys to a landlord, you never know when he might want to sell or demolish your home. Invest in your own online asset.

11. Tweet with purpose and passion

This will provide the focus and the why for building an online brand in your category of choice.
On Twitter I tweet about subjects that are the intersection of my passions and interests that combined provide nuclear fuel to drive my social media endeavours. You need to plug your tweets into that power source. It provides the rocket fuel to rise early, it provides the energy to stay up late,it provides the ideas and the inspiration for the writing and the content. Many of us have many things we love but you will need to choose the topic area for your Twitter account and blog and stick to it.

12. Be relentless

Stephen King writes one word at a time but he produces 2,000 words a day 7 days a week. This is what we call relentless. What enables him to do this is his passion for his craft. This is the fuel. You need to be relentless in the production of content to tweet and the use of Twitter to market and distribute that content.

One tweet at a time.

One last thing

If you haven’t put a Twitter sharing function on your website or blog then do it “now”. Don’t make it hard for people to share your content on your online portal and home.
























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