Yahoo Tumblrs for Cool: Board Approves $1.1 Billion Deal as Expected

As reported this weekend – the Tumblr / Yahoo deal is done, as millions of blogging voices suddenly cried out in terror.

Microsoft debuts Skype for Xbox with group video calling

Looks like the next gen of game consoles are going social in a big way (or at least trying to) – with Skype built into your Xbox One, a social sharing button built into the PlayStation 4 controller and more.

With Rich Pins, Pinterest Begins Working Better With Brands

All new Pin information for multiple kinds of Pins including movie, recipes, and product Pins with pricing, cook time, ingredients and services, ratings, cast members, and more…

Foursquare brings advanced filtering options to iPhone app

Again, Foursquare doubling down on discovery.

Google Said to Consider Buying Waze Presaging Bidding War

Hoo boy, here we go. (Although, like we’ve said: Waze is worth it.)

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As always, our comment on social media news can be found on our Twitter profile and Facebook page!

Successful Strategy:

• Listening. I seriously can’t give better advice than just looking at the actual actions and behaviors of your audience(s) first and not just doing social media for the sake of it, or because it’s trendy. Everyone is doing something social online, but audiences and demographics are using it differently. Its important to understand how yours are, otherwise you’ll spend your valuable time creating and providing content for channels that no one wants, needs or is paying attention to.

Challenges:

• Shiny Object Syndrome. So many cool tools come to life nearly every day in social media – and you should play with them and inspect them like you would any toy in the toy aisle. But it is SO easy to spend your time turning a new toy over in your hands while everyone else has decided what they’re playing with for the day, or week or year. This is where just looking and listening to your audience helps.
• Executives With Shiny Object Syndrome. “We need an app!” – we’ve heard a VP shout basically because he or she discovered Angry Birds over the weekend and decided, for no other reason, that they should make one. It’s not that there’s not a good reason to do things like that, it’s just that mere exposure isn’t a good reason. The best way to overcome this is to approach each channel, idea and concept from the audience path rather than the techie or wannabe-techie mindset. Chances are your Chief ___ Officer has a lot more to do than the average target audience member, so what fascinates and entertains them is probably not the exact same.

General Advice:

• Lessons learned: Social media didn’t change the fabric of society – people did. The masses did. Yes, there were innovations in the last ten years, but it was new habits that made them catch on and evolve. A new social channel lives or dies not because it’s cool or even because it’s a fantastic service — but rather because people use it. Some folks like to lift up social media like it’s the special unicorn that will save us all, or they groan and point to it as what has killed other media… both of those views are wrong. Looking at the forest for the trees you’ll see it’s just behavior. The public is in control. And THAT’S what’s scary for those looking to fleece rather than empower.
• To those just starting out: It’s okay – just explore. Find something you like doing online, then seek out a social way to interact with it. Chances are you already do, you just don’t count it as “social media” like looking at star-ratings and reading reviews, or joining that forum for your hobby. Then branch out from there. Don’t get blinded by all the jargon, stick close to your own activities and you’ll understand more about behavior in social than any book can teach you.

Facebook Home flagship phone, HTC First, may be discontinued

Facebook Home’s flagship phone is on the verge of being discontinued? Combine this with the reports that Home is slipping in the Android charts and it looks like the bloom has come off the new home screen environment rose just weeks after launch.

Further reading: Facebook Home Is Losing Steam In The Charts…Fast

BlackBerry bringing BBM to Android and iOS this summer

Blackberry on iOS? Android? From a social perspective this could have some interesting effects, especially on communities and geographies where BBM is still heavily used for socializing, such as Trinidad. The CEO bleated, “It’s time to bring BBM to a great audience.” Um… no, that actual time would have been 3-5 years ago. But it is an interesting development and could be impactful in certain parts of the world.

USA Network’s Dividing Line With Twitter

Throwing a hashtag on your television network might be considered a Twitter campaign nowadays, but is the next logical step in the television world to create a specific network to talk about your network’s programs?

Will Yahoo Try to Get Its “Cool Again” By Doing a Deal for Tumblr?

Sure, Yahoo has been on the acquisition trend lately but what’re the odds that a Tumblr acquisition could end up turning into another Flickr situation where Yahoo simply refuses to innovate with an acquired product?

There’s always an alternative with plenty of cash with a history of making bigger buys and improving the product it acquires…

Further Reading: Yahoo wants to buy Tumblr. Will Facebook swoop in at the last minute?

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As always, our latest thoughts and opinions are posted to our Twitter and Facebook pages–be sure to follow us to get our updates!

YouTube introduces subscription channels with a group of partners starting at $0.99/mo, will expand

Paid subscriptions at YouTube? How many subscribe for free NOW?

Mark Zuckerberg and Kevin Systrom on What Happened When Facebook Bought Instagram

An interesting and rare look at an important moment in social media’s brief history.

Introducing the YouTube Trends Map

Interesting ways to track trends… or to be really disappoint in a country’s viewing habits.

Reports: Facebook Is Buying Social Mapping/Traffic App Waze For Up To $1B To Court Mobile Users

Now THIS would be interesting… We’re big fans of Waze’s concept and execution.

Further reading: Facebook Previews New Features For Home, Which Is Near 1M Downloads And Increases Users’ Time Spent

Feedback is proud to join Worldwide Partners, Inc. in celebrating their 75th anniversary!

Bonus points: see if you can find Feedback’s own Jeff Thompson in the group photo! (A higher-res version resides here.)

Instagram Now Lets Anyone Tag You [Or Brands] In Photos, Adds Them To “Photos Of You” Profile Section

UK.Gov passes Instagram Act: all your pics are belong to everyone now

This may very well be a case of the Government is trying to free up businesses and enterprise by reducing legislation – but we also don’t want to underestimate the Internet’s ability to freak out… something to watch as it progresses to Parliament and the House of Lords.

Chat apps have overtaken SMS by message volume, but how big a disaster is that for carriers?

Another trend that has snuck by many watching the social and digital space.

Retwact: A Tool for Fixing twitter’s Misinformation Problem

“Retwact tries to contain the damage (and)shame that comes along with spreading information that later turns out to be untrue…”

Nielsen: Facebook Declining In U.S. And On Desktop

So — grain of sale time.

The switch to mobile makes sense. The 10 million “lost” from Facebook user numbers… is an awkward statement. Consider that there’s an average of 3 million people who die each year, another 3 million who emigrate from the US (who could still be on Facebook, just not using it IN the US), not to mention Facebook cracking down on users who are underage, fake and spam accounts — and are we talking about a certain amount of activity here? It’s hard to tell since Nielsen can’t confirm these “lost” people actually went anywhere — if they defected to other networks or… um… just died.

Point being — take any decline under 20 million with a grain of slat when we’re talking about a user base of over a billion…

Bud Light Offers Proof That Facebook Ads Work

Now we might not always recommend a case of Bud Light, but as a case study, it’s worth a look…

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AP Twitter account hacked, makes false claim of explosions at White House

In a tough couple of weeks for news getting things wrong, a hack on the social media side isn’t helping!

Data Science of the Facebook World

Fascinating use of Facebook data of macro behaviours from Stephen Wolfram.

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Keep an eye out for our UK office’s perspective on the Facebook Home launch and other news stores via our Facebook page and Twitter feed!

ITV is the United Kingdom’s oldest independent TV station (est. 1955); in addition to buying and broadcasting shows, it also commissions its own material. In recent years ITV has been applauded for producing the highly acclaimed Downton Abbey and Britain’s Got Talent.

Eight weeks ago we were introduced to Broadchurch, a modern ‘whodunit’ drama based in a Dorset coastal village. The drama traces the hunt for the killer of schoolboy Danny Latimer, led by two detectives. Monday night TV will not be the same again. ITV drew in 9.2m+ viewers last night (33.5% of all viewers) – figures not seen since the nation was left asking ‘Who shot JR?’ It has been suggested that just 29 people knew how it would end and that cast members, crew and production teams had been kept in the dark. Its appeal has generated an estimated £15m in additional advertising revenue and has guaranteed the show international success. The seaside resort where it was filmed has been inundated with visitors flocking to enjoy its charm.

Feedback professionals are fans of the show and we applaud the broadcasters flawless use of social media to build engagement. ITV used social media to involve viewers in the story. The content released was carefully crafted to help build the story, and the timing of announcements helped contribute to the tension.

• Super fan Becca Overton set up the unofficial fan page to run quizzes, competitions, chats and polls – which the programme’s makers Kudos Productions were very supportive of

• Final episode credits contained an invitation to see an exclusive additional scene on Facebook / YouTube clocking up an instant 255,000 views immediately afterwards

• #broadchurch spent the day trending on twitter with the cast making contributions and announcing the commissioning of a second series

There are many lessons in this case study. The biggest though has to be that ITV understood the fit between the ‘whodunit’ format and social media. People were able to expand on theories, share filming locations and even place bets. The proximity of viewers to the show and its stars was closer than anything we have ever experienced insuring everyone’s investment had a payback.

If you didn’t see it, you had best check it out on ITV on demand or wait for it to come to your screens wherever you are and have your tablets/smartphones to hand so you too can participate.

Trending: Masters buzzing on social media

Interesting stats on how even golf gets in on public social media buzz.

Foursquare launches tool to visualize your check-ins

Interesting!

Facebook’s Chat Heads Come to iPhones, iPad with App Update

So one of the most interesting and compelling features of Facebook Home is being brought to iPhones and the iPad…

Further reading: Talking heads: how a late-night hack turned into Facebook’s next big thing

Twitter’s New Video Plan: Ads, Brought to You By Ads

Ugh, brought to you by ugh… (Advertisers, realize that no matter how great this sounds to you, the average Twitter user will hate this.)

More Twitter news: Twitter, BBC America announce video partnership

71% of Facebook Users Engage in ‘Self-Censorship’

A fascinating behavioural look at self-censorship, identity and really, self-perception.

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Twitter’s New Music App Launches Friday

Can it do for music what Vine did for… um… well let’s hope it’s got more oomph for the mainstream than that…

And the site is live, albeit currently is more of a placeholder.

Chat Multi-Tasking is How Facebook Home Could Rattle Apple And Google

So now that we’ve had a weekend to think about it, we agree with this article that the real meat of Home is how they handle chat.

Brands Favor Social Shares Over Likes

Surprise! Engagement matters more than random Likes!

More Facebook news: Facebook Rolling Out Emoticons, Actions In Status Updates To More Users

FourSquare’s iOS Update Brings Search to the Forefront

Interesting… Foursquare as more about search than check-in?

Twitter Now Rivals Facebook as Teens’ Most Important Social Network

Experience tells us it isn’t always reliable to use teens as a barometer for future trends but there will be many youth brands who might sit up and review their plans with this shift gathering momentum.

And remember kids – mileage may vary based on how your target regions actually use Twitter!

We are speaking at the Spring conference of the New England Society for Healthcare Communications – come join us in beautiful Newport, RI!

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