Week in digital #5: online video sites traffic up 36% in UK, interacting with brands on social media, Florence + the Machine gig streamed live

This week sees that the number of visits to online video sites in the UK has increased by 36% since September 2010, four new social media magazines launch, the optimum length of a Facebook post, watch Florence + the Machine new album launch gig online for £3.99, Google makes changes to Reader and are brands ‘over-reliant’ on Facebook?

Visits to online video sites has increased by 36% in UK since 2010
New stats from Experian Hitwise show that visits to online video sites grew by over a third in the UK over the past year, with over 785 million visits to sites like YouTube in September.  From 2010 to 2011 traffic increased by 36%, truly demonstrating the increasing popularity of online video. If anything this shows the importance of incorporating video into brand campaigns.

How consumers interact with brands on social media [infographic] A pan-European study has found that one third of Facebook and Twitter users in the UK follow brands, which apparently is more than twice the percentage of other markets on the continent, writes Wall Blog. Other stats include:
– Twitter has the highest sharing rate of branded messages and content (18%)
– Consumers want brands active in social media channels to be ‘informative’, ‘entertaining’ and ‘interactive’

Social media magazines hit the shelves
At a time when most magazines and newspapers are gravitating towards tablet apps, digital editions it is interesting to learn that GSG World Media is publishing four new monthly magazines dedicated to Twitter, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn. The freshly pressed magazines are ‘aimed at helping business owners harness the power of the social sphere’ and come at $7.95 each.  But if you’d rather keep things digital, they are also available for free via a digital subscription. Is this the way forward: Offer print editions at premium prices and give the content away for free digitally? Not the best business model is it…

Does size matter when it comes to Facebook updates?
Apparently so. Publishing platform Vitrue has looked at over 11,000 posts made by the 150 largest Pages on Facebook to see if there is an optimum length on Facebook posts when it comes to engagement. Taking the Likes and comments and dividing them by the number of fans they ended up with an engagement rate as a percentage. The result: the longer the post gets, the more the engagement rate decreases… So what is the optimum number of characters? Well the study didn’t say but ensure to keep Facebook posts as concise as possible while still fully communicating what you want.

Watch Florence + the Machine new album launch gig online
The gig is long sold out, but courtesy of theguardian and LoveLive fans of Florence + the Machine can see the album launch performance at Hackney Empire tonight, 25th October, online. Just request your access code, pay £3.99 and you’re there (almost). Definitely cheaper that going to the gig, but the atmosphere won’t be the same…

Are brands over-reliant on Facebook?
With brands investing millions into developing excellent Facebook pages, could they be at risk of trading in their privacy? A leading analyst at Constellation Research Group – quoted in Marketing Magazine – thinks so and has now warned brands that they are ‘over-reliant on Facebook and it will come back and bite them’. An interesting notion, but we’d like to think brands are using Facebook in a way that doesn’t put privacy or customer data at risk. However with Facebook’s many ‘privacy issues’ over the past years, it’s worth thinking twice about how your brand’s customer data is stored. Are brand owned platforms the future?

Google makes changes to Reader
Google is definitely working on cleaning up its social/digital footprint. Not long after announcing Google Buzz is to become extinct, they’ve now revealed that they will be making changes to Google Reader. The service will get a brand new design and be brought closer to Google+. In a few weeks you’ll no longer be able to friend, follow or share linked blogs inside of Reader. This will now be integrated into Google+ so if you’re an avid user of Reader you best start working on your Circles now!

LinkedIn launches new tool to help you stay in touch with old school friends
First and foremost a place to keep your professional connections organised, LinkedIn is launching a new tool called ‘Classmates‘ which aims to help you stay in touch with fellow graduates and alumni. Personally I welcome this as I sometimes feel that my Facebook is crowded with people whose holiday photos I don’t necessarily want to see, but who I keep on there because I once went to school with them and it would be a shame to loose contact completely. What do you think?

43% of Londoners use social media to find jobs [infographic] A nifty infographic by LondonLovesJobs shows how Londoners search for a job and how social media is changing this. No surprise that people are using social media in the hunt for the next step on the career ladder, but the research also shows that employers have yet to fully tap into this trend – as are the recruitment teams! Other stats worth nothing:
– 25% of Londoners look for a job on LinkedIn
– Only 14% of job sites and companies advertise or promote openings via social media
– More men than women search for jobs via social media channels – 30% of men use LinkedIn to find a job compared to 18% of women

More mums use Facebook and other social networks than average internet users
New figures by eMarketer show that an estimated 23 million US mums are on Facebook this year, using the site at least once a month, representing well over two-thirds of all online mothers in the country.  This means that more mothers use Facebook and other social networks each month compared to average internet users. Luckily my mum is not on Facebook – have yet to convert her to Skype – but I do have a few aunts and friends that have offspring of their own.

Toyota launches Facebook game ahead of Tokyo Motor Show sports car debut
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has launched a Facebook game to promote the production model sports car that it plans to debut at the Tokyo Motor Show in December. Dubbed the Social Network Racer the game is now live and will run through 31 December, allowing racers across the globe to ‘test-drive’ the new car and compete for a super prize: a free trip to Japan. Start your engines!

Personal sharing network Path closing in on 1 million users
I tried Path – the mobile app that lets you share images and the personal things with friends – when it first launched a while ago. To be honest, I never used it again. But good news for the company as it is apparently closing in on 1 million users.  Path enables you to share the most personal things with a limited number of your nearest and dearest  (50 last time I checked), such as first dates, deaths or injury that perhaps might not be sharable on other social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Do you use Path?

Elisabeth Edvardsen

3 comments

  • There´s a lot of guides in the XDA forums too on the process of rooting your phone and installing a custom ROM etc.
    But I suggest you read some about rooting first. If you brick your device your warranty probably won´t help you very much. So do it on your own risk. I did. And I couldn´t be more happy I finally tried it!

  • Week in digital #5: online video sites traffic up 36% in UK, interacting with brands on social media, Florence + the Machine gig streamed live
    what is that ?

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