Social Media Examiner released their 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, a survey of more than 3,800 marketers. So what’s changed? Well, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, and YouTube continue to be the power-five in social media tools used by marketers, in that order. This year saw significant decline in use and interest in social bookmarking sites, forums, and geo-location services like Foursquare. Google+ is the breakout star of 2012, with 70% intending to “learn more,” a testament to Google’s brand hold. The driving question most participants wanted answers for regarding social media was time—how to get the most out of social media for the least amount of time. People between the ages of 20 to 29 are committing the most hours per week to social media, followed by those 30-39. (Note- 72% of people who took the survey identified as being in their 30’s, so maybe they hang out with a younger crowd.) And does experience matter? Apparently those with more social media experience (1-3 years) are putting in more hours. So it appears that small businesses will have to start paying that social media intern (or wait for that social media robot to be invented). Read the report here.
President Obama launched a Pinterest account, (maintained by his 2012 re-election campaign), which has since spurred at least 5 knock-off accounts (among them http://pinterest.com/fakebarackobama/, which “Ann Romney” re-pinned from!). Obama’s inspiration boards include recipes, pets, and ObamaArt. Pictures of Portuguese Water Spaniel, Bo, made a splash, along with the Obama family chili recipe (hopefully it meets Michelle’s new calorie guidelines). For the record, President Obama already has Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Foursquare accounts. Check out Obama’s imposters here. And speaking of imposters, AGBeat reports that at least 33 copycat sites have emerged since the release of the hugely popular image curration site, with a few finding success.
Reviews for the iPad 3 are streaming in, while New York City continues to reel from the chaos that ensued at Apple’s Grand Central flagship store. The main draw of iPad 3 is the enhanced screen display (9.7 Retina Display) along with a A5X processor and a 5MP camera. TechRadar and others have noted the iPad 3 is actually heavier, and reviewers claim iPad 3 gets too hot if a gaming app is left open for long periods of time. iPad 3 starts at $500 for the16 GB wi-fi version and goes up to $829 for the 64 GB, 4G enabled. At that cost you could buy 4 Kindles.
Path app is the newest social media phenomenon—entering the social media world with the tagline “The smart journal; that helps you share life with the ones you love” or “the anti-Facebook” to those in the know. Early reactions included “Is anyone on this thing?” Path is a combination of Twitter and Facebook, allowing users to provide up-to-the-minute updates on what they’re doing, where they are, whom they are with, and even what they’re listening to. There is no TV share button at the moment, so users will have to spell out that they are watching MadMen. Path users report liking the design and interface, and its functionality for immediate sharing. Path is available for iPhone and Android. Get the app here.
Reports of social media innovation poured in following SXSW, with CNN stating, “this year’s South by Southwest Interactive may be remembered just as much for what happened outside the halls… as what happened in them.” And Radian6 has the data to prove it with the release of their SXSW 2012 Social Media Buzz Report, which monitored the panels, parties, and buzz around the 5 day spectacle. Of note—the surge of new mobile apps for social media connecting and networking. A few apps stand out: Highlight, Kismet, Glancee, Sonar, and Ban.jo. (more on these coming soon). You can read the report here.
And of course, Facebook made Timeline mandatory for all pages, causing headaches throughout the business world. Was the hype worth it? Certainly not for people who adopted it as far back as December, 2011. Users are trying to make it their “own”, looking for loopholes to customize and stand out. Bloggers are already calling timeline “boring”, and the color scheme is being referred to as “hospital blue.” Timeline is going to force individuals and businesses alike to think more creatively as profiles can no longer have a customized landing page. Follow ReadWriteWeb’s suggestions for Timeline customization. Regardless of whether or not you like timeline, from a design perspective it certainly makes you wonder who’s making the decisions at Facebook.
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