Get a load of Internet Explorer... as an anime character. Also learn the latest on G+, how users consume Facebook news, and why people don't like companies that use socnets to recruit. Also, Forrester welcomes us to the digital revolution (just now?)! Skim for your social lift.
Twitter goes IPO. Twitter's gone IPO, having sold 70 million shares at $26 a pop. Shares opened at $45.10 and were up 75% from the IPO price. Forbes provides 10 reasons why it's different from Facebook's IPO: The 'Book raised $16 billion on day one, Twitter raised $1.8 billion and is valued at $14.4 billion (restricted shares not counted). Insiders also opted not to sell, meaning it has more to use for corporate purposes, unlike FB, half of whose raised dosh went into the pockets of VCs and hedge funds. Notably, it also lacks profit margin: while FB earned $1 billion in the year before its IPO, Twitter lost a whoppin' $133.9 million in the first nine months this year. It also has fewer users. But hey, Goldman Sachs has its back. If the news is making you nostalgic, here's the company's history in 10 super-concise Vines.
True connectedness. here's no better way to punt technology than demonstrating how it actually brings people together. And that's the case for Skype's "Stay Together" campaign, which uses real stories about long-distance Skype connections. This week's highlight was "Born Friends," a tale of two girls with a special bond who, after 8 years of Skyping, meet for the first time.
Microsoft IE as... anime character? For the Anime Festival in Asia, Microsoft produced an Internet Explorer ad that uses manga tropes to depict IE as a Sailor Moonish character whose browser tabs... destroy robots. Okay, that's cool. Hopefully it can also break past Google's recent decision to stop supporting IE9 in Google Apps (9% of the market still uses it).
Like gets a makeover. For the first time ever, Facebook's changing the look of its Web-omnipresent Like button, making it a deeper blue and coupling it with an F logo for better recognition across other sites. The "Share" feature will also be buttoning up to match.
Score piles of real Twitter followers. A service called TargetPatternpromises to help bump your "legit" Twitter following into the thousands, using a clever tool that "Favorites" tweets from people you show interest in based on keywords (thus giving them the chance to follow you if they like your profile). The approach is less bot-like than previous follower-building services, but one TNW writer still switched it off, simply because the idea of endorsing things he didn't personally see makes him uncomfortable. Weigh your pros and cons with care. Plans start at $19 a month.
From hangouts to helpouts. Google's launched Helpouts, a concept that rips off the fast-proliferating Skillshare idea, to provide a place for experts and companies to share knowledge with others. Use it to level up to Thought Leader status... and if you need to powwow in private first, try one of G+'s brand-new private-access Hangouts for employees or select users only.
We give you Hangouts 2.0. In addition to Helpouts, G+ has also updated Hangouts for Android. It now supports SMS and MMS messages, animated GIFs, location, and status sharing. Bring on the cats.
The Devil wears Prada... on Instagram. Fashion may seem like an intuitive image socnet match, but it isn't always, and we can learn from its worst practices as often as its best. Digiday's produced a nice roundup of fashion brand fails on Instagram. Step one? Chill on the hashtags!
How brands budget and measure social. MarketingProfs has published an article about how brands staff, budget, and measure to support social efforts. The findings come from a Wildfire report (PDF) that's action-packed with goodies that'll make you feel less crazy. Marketers' top concern: maintaining high levels of engagement. Their lowest? Brand damage from negative postings. We've come a long way.
Need a B2B social boost? Oktopost is an educational social network devoted entirely to helping B2B marketers better use social without falling flat on their faces. You can even use it to schedule posts and create campaigns. But the real value is the learning and online workshops you'll get to improve sales and user loyalty.
Welcome to the jungle! Forrester Research led its eBusiness and Channel Strategy Forum with the theme "Lead the Digital Business Revolution." Using learnings from its latest report, "The Chief Digital Office: Fad or Future?" Forrester talks about the Internet's disruptive nature and explains how businesses can get ahead without folding under the pressure. How do you embrace digital? A few tips: be about your customers, not the bottom line; rebuild your business around what customers want; choose a digital change agent with the executive power to make real changes in your company. Another biggie: give people control over their data. Welcome to the digital revolution (finally).
How people consume Facebook news. An IB Times infographic unites data from a Pew Research/Knight Foundation study to show how people consume news from Facebook feeds. Though only 22% actively seek news there, 30% of US adults nonetheless consume it, and usually by accident. Entertainment news consists of a whopping 73% of what they find, while people and community events-related news come in second, at 65%.
Beware the lurky social recruiter. A University of Houston study of college seniors majoring in hospitality management finds that people who think a company is using Facebook to screen them for jobs "perceive the company as unfair" and are less likely to apply for work there. One problem may be the way companies frame their use of Facebook in recruitment: "If it's framed as part of the screening process, they could be turning away good applicants, and there are so many valid tools to use for a selection process," said assistant professor Juan Madera. The worry is that what employers will find is unrelated to actual employee performance and will bias them against users for unfair reasons. So if you're social-lurking, keep it under the radar (and take it easy... because we've all been to a kegger, haven't we?).
LinkedIn beats Twitter in monthly adult uniques. comScore finds that LinkedIn enjoys around 63.4 million adult monthly unique views in the US, compared with Twitter, which has 62.6 million. LinkedIn's figures rose 35% from last year, while Twitter's rose just 10%—so LinkedIn is also growing faster. Business Insider hastens to mention that comScore is tracking only users over 18, and Twitter is generally favored by the younguns. Still, if you're targeting adults, it's good to know.
Let's wrap with something fun. Halloween happened late last week, and with it a lot of great brand executions, not least from Tide, which released a Vine video inspired by horror classic "Carrie." But it would be impossible to ignore Oreo (which is killing it this year!). America's favorite cookie used Vine to revisit classic horror films... Oreo-style. For those of weak heart, flowing blood is replaced with milk in the case of Oreo. Refreshing!
