‘Twitter’

Twitter has taken the bold step to say what everyone is thinking – Google promotes it own social network Google+ at the expense of other social networks.

Twitter has not been tactful about it as well. The company outright complained that users and news organizations will all be disadvantaged if there are no tweets in the Google search results. Since news of important events often appear first on Twitter, then the news networks, and finally in search results, it goes without saying that the tweets are the most relevant when it comes to up to date reports on events.

The Google+ centred approach has been criticized widely, with Twitter being the most prominent of the complainers.  The company loves the traffic from the search giant, but with no direct advantage for Google to send traffic to tweets, one can understand the shift in focus to promote their own struggling social network.

Twitter’s Perspective on Google+

Google can still index the tweets which are public and most of them are. Twitter feels that people rely on the search giant to deliver accurate search results including breaking news and events. With Twitter being a major source of information fitting the profile, it goes without saying that the results should include searches in their 250 million or so daily tweets covering just about any given topic.

Twitter boasts about a 100 million users and as such their input should not be ignored. With the changes in Google’s focus and subsequent search results, the users and publishers definitely are at a disadvantage and the results cannot be given as the most accurate or relevant to the user.

Google hasn’t included any public Facebook content in its search results up to now and Twitter has thus just joined the low search results ranks together with other social networks.

Google’s Perspective on Social Networks

Google’s response is that they don’t have access to crawl the content of certain sites including social networks. They can thus only provide results on information not hidden behind password protection and pay-walls.

Google has also announced that they are surprised by Twitter’s outrage since the company chose not to renew the pay agreement and since then the search giant has simply observed the no follow instructions.

Review of the Twitter versus Google+ War

If one has to be completely objective then Google certainly has the right to promote Google+ more than any of the other social networks and if Twitter has not renewed their agreement, there is certainly no reason for the search engine giant to send traffic their way. Google also has the right to get others to play nice and open up their networks for crawling, but look closer and you will be able to see that the exclusion of such results and pushing sites down the rank, influence the accuracy and relevancy of results.

Even though a user with a Google+ account now has a more relevant search experience when taken into consideration that search results are adapted to the user’s past searches and profile, essential results don’t show up. For Google, it may seem relevant, but the user is suffering because of their policies. With that then the giant engine shouldn’t proclaim the best results when indeed they are self-promoting and then demoting others at the same time.

Google+ is struggling and with all its excellent privacy features, little circles and clean lay-out, it cannot compete with Facebook and Twitter following. The search engine wants access to Twitter and Facebook to crawl, but then one also has to look even deeper. Google doesn’t make ad revenue from Facebook accounts and being excluded from revenue on Twitter, it seems like another ploy to downsize competition.

One must appreciate Google’s effort to get all information accessible under one umbrella. Currently you will search your Facebook page, do a Twitter search and a Google one if you want to get up to date and really relevant results. But, Google has also been accused of bullying Android and Motorola has complained that they don’t have freedom of decision. It does seem that Google pressures every other network, platform, mobile provider and site into submission to fit their own agenda.

Does this Tug of War Hurt the User or the Company the Most?

Undoubtedly the ongoing monopoly tugging does hurt the Internet user. One should, however, ask whether another social network is needed. Does anyone have the time to login at Facebook and Google+, make your way to Twitter for some tweeting, chat at Skype and then move onto searching? Indeed, Google surely doesn’t have in mind to just add another social network, it is more an issue of taking down the one network where it doesn’t get an income from and then if they succeed in pushing tweets down the results far enough, they may even take the market there as well.

The search giant, cannot however, be criticized for being so large and marketing itself since they do give a lot of free stuff. If many of their competitors would have done the same, they may also have flooded the market. They certainly also have the right to put pressure on companies to use their products.

Twitter’s complaint against Google is somewhat legitimate and resembles how many of the smaller companies also feel. With the constant changes made by Google, several thousands of little AdSense publishers have seen their income dwindle and their sites pushed down far on the search results.

One must ask whether Google has become so big that they have lost touch with their users in the quest to promote their Google+ and other products. One must also ask whether ad income from the large companies have become more important than accurate information as search results have become focused on the large sites recently. The Twitter versus Google+ war is far from over and one can expect to see more complaints surface in future.

Back to the question of whether Twitter’s complaint against Google for promoting their own social network while pushing others down should be supported – it depends on whether you still benefit from Google’s traffic and whether you want your searches and social network to be an integrated experience.

Online Reputation Management to Prevent Social Media Scandals

Online reputation management, known by many as ORM, is not just a trendy term thrown around by SEO companies in the hope to attract more customers and offer a new service. It is indeed an important part of image protection in the virtual world.

Online reputation management is the ongoing process of monitoring the online environment for any accusations, writing or mentioning of a company, brand, product or person’s name in an effort to improve the party’s reputation and to protect against the results of damaging Internet content.

A few techniques used in Online Reputation Management include, but are not limited to:

• Writing of positive articles, blog posts and press releases which are all optimized according to the latest search engine algorithms to push the negative search results further down to the sandpit pages.
• Continues monitoring of social media pages including Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Blog site and YouTube for any negative comments and developing strategies to counter the negative image development.
• Promotion of neutral content in an effort to take out fires.

The Uncontrollable Social Media Monster

A careless Facebook post, advert, picture or tweet can cost a company to lose a lot of influence even with their own loyal supporters. Knowing how to address mistakes and how to deal with the uncertainties of user generated content are what the ORM specialists are best at.

In many instances, a company owner or celebrity will be better off to let the SEO specialists run their Facebook fan pages and Twitter accounts. A recent embarrassment which made headlines on the Internet has highlighted the importance of a sound online reputation management policy.

Durex Twitter Scandal

Durex South Africa, the condom company, made a Tweet joke in an effort to push up awareness. Unfortunately the joke was in bad taste and although negative publicity can work in a person’s favour, it certainly has not been the case for Durex.

The joke was not well received by the public and a blogger quickly mentioned the bad taste of the joke. It wasn’t long before the feminist groups joined in the attack and the team of Durex landed with their backs against the wall. What started out as a publicity stunt quickly grew into a full scale public scandal for the company. Had they managed the situation correctly right from the start, they could have limited damage quickly.

Instead, they chose to fight the accusations instead of simply apologizing for the offense caused. The sooner they did so, the quicker the gossip could stop. It took them several hours before they finally caved in and apologized. It was the end of that, but the fire was already spreading far and wide, and as can be seen by this blog – is still burning high.

The above just goes to show that one should think before you ink. Tweets are made to be followed and quickly get a lot of attention. You, however, don’t want negative attention because of a simple one line joke. Also treat customers with respect even if you disagree with them. Don’t defend, but rather work together to get to a solution that will save your reputation.

McDonalds – Hoax Victim

Another instance where social media caused severe image damage was that of McDonalds who fell victim to a Twitter hoax tag with a picture showing a sign on the company’s door that indicated that because of robberies that the African-American customers would be required to pay $1.50 extra for every transaction at McDonalds. It was a complete hoax, but it caused severe image damage and the company had to act fast to protect its online reputation. They responded with continues tweets that the picture was a hoax and relentlessly responded to all queries relating to that. It wasn’t the first time that the company had to do crisis online reputation management because of hoaxes, but they have done well so far to manage their online reputation.

ChapStick Upset the Feminine Rights Groups

Another incident also made waves on the Internet quite recently. The ChapStick lip balm advertisement showing the backside of a female bending over a couch with the wording “Where do lost ChapSticks go?” was a complete failure because the picture implied something unsavoury. Not their intention, but nevertheless it caused tremendous uproar in the female community. The company eventually removed the ad and apologized for it, obviously a bit red in the face altogether. And where did the fire spread? In the social media front where it is not so easy to control user input.

A blogger spurred more comments on the ad, and some complained that ChapStick removed negative comments at their Facebook page. Many users were upset with the censoring of their comments. The company could have prevented more drama if they simply removed the ad immediately and explained their intention to the consumers rather than going on the defence.

Domino Pizza Employees Joked Around On YouTube

One more example to show how important effective reputation management is in the online world: Employees of Domino’s Pizza a few years ago filmed them while doing some rather disgusting acts while delivering pizzas. They placed the videos on YouTube and it wasn’t long before thousands of viewers saw it. Dominos responded in the correct way by posting an apology video for the behaviour of their employees and needless to say, fired the culprits before taking further legal action. The company lost millions and had their reputation scattered by only two employees who made a joke.

Guidelines for Effective Online Presence Management

The online presence should never be tainted with any negative comments or profiles. As such consider what others see when they type your name, the names of your employees, your brand and company name in. There should never be any unanswered comments or questions about you or any of the above mentioned. This also applies to forums and social media sites.

In terms of negative comments, don’t just let them be. Apologize where necessary and take corrective steps. Explain where appropriate and engage with the client to get a positive response. Be careful though there are online trolls who simply love to create even more negativity. Online reputation management teams can assist in identifying the best responses or ways to deal with such.

Scan the online environment for any plagiarism of your website content. Get legal advice as how to act to minimize fuzz, but also to protect the image of your company. Regularly visit high traffic blog sites to scan for any comments about your company which could put you in a bad light and follow the advice of the Online Reputation Management crew in dealing with such. If the tasks seem exhausting, simply outsource such to an SEO and ORM company to help you protect your reputation.

The reports on the latest social networking growth stats indicate that Facebook is the leader of the pack with Twitter second and LinkedIn trailing in third place. More significant is continues growth of the networks with Facebook, showing tremendous increase in usage. With over 1.1 billion users globally and attracting more than 81% of the Internet users, Facebook is by far the biggest gun in the social network industry.

Globally, social networking growth stats show that citizens in Israel spend the most time at social networking with more than 11 hours a month per user. The people of Argentina are not far behind with over 10.6 hours a month per user and then Russians with their more than 10.3 hours monthly. Turkey, Chile, The Philippines and Colombia are not far behind. Trailing the top ten are Peru, Venezuela and Canada. Surprisingly, the US citizens spend less time on social networks than the citizens in the above countries, with South Africans not yet coming close.

Gender Profiles

Reports further indicate that women use the social media sites for comparison with their female peers whilst the men use such for finding friends. Men love the idea of body photos whilst women tend to add facial photos.  Men use the platforms for finding information about people whilst females tend to use such for personal engagement.

Social Networking in South Africa Compared To the USA and Europe

Studies indicate that more than 75% of Americans use social networks with European users slightly behind them, but when it comes to South Africa, the picture looks different. Reports show that Twitter has grown its market tremendously to now include more than a million users with estimates indicating that more than 39% of the users are active. With the majority of users in South Africa, only joining during 2010-2011, it is definitely the hottest new thing on the social media scene when it comes to South Africa.

The South African Social Media Landscape 2011 released by World Wide Worx and Fuseware indicated that the SA media is mostly responsible for the tremendous growth in Twitter usage. Accordingly, many use the platform for retrieval and for following of news.

When it comes to Facebook, the social network growth stats indicate that many of the users didn’t even log in during 2010-2011. With more than 4.1 million users and only around 3.1 million plus, who logged in during the period, it seems as if the obsession with Facebook in South Africa has subsided a bit.

Numerous users now utilize BBM and MXit as well as Twitter instead, whilst some, and only some, have begun to use Google+.  Many of the Facebook users have accounts, but only occasionally visit their profile pages to upload new pictures or to play a game or two.

Surprisingly, LinkedIn has also passed the million user mark with reports indicating 1.1 million users. It shows tremendous growth with active usage also on the increase. It has indeed shown more than 86% growth in one year. Only a tenth of the users are businesses.

MXit, though certainly not forming part of the international social networking growth stats, is still the largest mobile social media platform for the country. Its user profile shows that more than 74% of the users are teens and younger kids. It is thus, apart from BBM, the preferred platform for social networking when it comes to the youth of the country.

USA Usage

When it comes to the USA, Facebook is definitely the most important of the social networks with reports indicating that more than 57% for the users use the platform on a daily basis. LinkedIn has a smaller market penetration with just over a fifth of the user profile and Twitter in the same region.

European Usage

The Europeans are surprisingly conservative in social media usage with about half the profile logging into one social platform only. Around two thirds of Europeans use at least one of the social media networks with over 60% logging in at Facebook on a regular basis and around 15-17% on Twitter. Another social network called Vkontakte that takes around 11-13% of the user profile.

New Networks

Apart from BBM that has made its mark, reports indicate that users don’t easily migrate to other networks or add them to their profiles.  It may explain the low usage level of Google+, although it certainly has enough subscribers, just not active users. Smaller social media networks will have an even harder time in penetrating the market. It can be ascribed to persons already having all their contacts at Facebook or LinkedIn and with them already following tweets they don’t seem to have more time or willingness to add another platform to their schedule. People, according to experts in the field, tend to ignore smaller social networks because of the low level of interactivity.

 Social Networking and Branding Growth

According to the various reports, globally the USA and European users follow brands, although international figures suggest that only half the number of users from other countries, including South Africa, actively follows brands on the social networks.

Other reports indicate that MySpace usage is on the fast track downwards with Tumblr surprisingly showing growth. Accordingly, the average time spent at Facebook has increased to more than six hours a month for the USA profile. Market dominance of the big players in social networking will continue, and currently only around five networks show massive growth while the thousands of other networks have indeed shown a decrease in activity.

Social Networking Growth Stats in Japan

The Japanese, according to reports, love Facebook and Twitter just about the same, but when it comes to usage, Facebook leads with more than 52% of the sharing whilst Twitter is only used for just under 14%. Twitter has, however, shown tremendous growth in 2011 with more than 576% growth in one year. Google has shown a drop in usage of around 7-8%. Reports indicate that more than 11 million of social networking users globally are in Japan.

Social networking growth stats clearly indicate Facebook as the leader. Twitter and LinkedIn are the two other big players, but usage trends differ from country to country. In South Africa, as shown, MXit and BBM are also big, with Google+ not really a threat to any network. What is important is to take note of the tremendous growth in social media and networking. Any business hoping to reach their target audience must make use of the social platforms where their users are in addition to offline marketing and their websites.

If you’re the proud owner of a BlackBerry, you would know that over the last couple of days major upset was caused around the world amongst the BlackBerry community with their smartphones being somewhat dysfunctional. Emails lost. No BlackBerry Messenger messages going through. Basically giving some of us a taste of what it would be like if we had a communication shut down…even if this was just a minor glitch in our social lives (both on- and offline).

The interruption in service was felt around the world, including in the Middle East, India, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Europe and of course South Africa, amongst others. Research in Motion (RIM), the company who manufactures BlackBerry, didn’t give any details as to what caused the problem in service in the first place – although the speculation is that one of their servers crashed – or how long users could expect to wait for a fully functional smartphone.

The RIM spokesperson did however say that they are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible, and that they apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

Some of the South African service providers, such as Vodacom, did send messages to their BlackBerry users stating that “RIM (BlackBerry) has informed us that a ‘core switch failure’ has been fixed and they are working to restore normal service. Service delays are still likely.” Of course Vodacom hasn’t been the only mobile telecommunications company that has been affected in South Africa; MTN, Cell C, Heita and Virgin Mobile users have been struggling with this matter.

While many BlackBerry users have been using social sites such as Facebook and Twitter to vent their frustration, there have been at least some users who has taken it all in their stride and even opted for humour as a way to express themselves via tweets.

“It’s thoughtful of BlackBerry to honour Steve Jobs by having two days of silence,” said one tweet.

“Flight attendant just said to switch all our phones off, this includes all Blackberries… everyone chimes ‘don’t worry they keep themselves off’,” said another.”

Needless to say that RIM has been feeling the heat and has already lost some market share. iPhone and iPhone users especially has been turning up the heat, leading to remarks such as this from a disgruntled BlackBerry user:

“Ok, this BlackBerry thing is ridiculous now. And if I see one more tweet from a smug iPhone user…”

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

The battle between Facebook vs. Twitter has not even begun and may never really. Instead, the two social media tools are just that – communication tools and are not likely to ever replace normal search engines or portals, but they are important for any business wanting to rapidly expand its market and brand name.

What is more important is that for business applications you may need to choose, simply because of the time constraints involved in using social tools such as Facebook or Twitter. Many people have asked which of the two will be the best to use for business and who will take the lead in future?

Main Differences

Facebook with millions of users is a vast network. Small businesses often make the mistake of having the owner trying to self promote, social, and communicate on both business and social level with disappointing results. It can be compared to a person trying to sell a MLM scheme or perhaps cosmetics to her close circle of friends. They will simply attend the first time and then ignore all her calls and messages thereafter. If you want to keep your friends and use Facebook as a business application, the two must be separated.

Twitter, on the other hand, is perhaps not the best tool for simply communicating as it gets a bit dull to follow every step of a business through tweets. It is, however, a fast track communication tool to share breaking news. Anyone entering the world of tweeting soon realise that to create a loyal following means work and also sticky content.

Facebook is More Suited for In-depth Communication

Businesses can utilise the features such as photos and videos, links, updates, and discussions. One can create two profiles – personal and business. Nowhere is it more important to separate work and private life than on Facebook. To make it as a business on the social medial networking site you must setup a business fan page. It is also a good idea to purchase PPC ad space as such seems to be highly effective. There is also the Like feature that allows for others to quickly add LIKE and then receive updates about your company as you send such out. In addition, users can easily recommend your page or anything of interest. Because it is such an excellent viral tool, brand awareness can quickly spread to millions of users.

Twitter is for Quick Communication

Twitter doesn’t have features such as videos or photos, but it offers an exceptionally fast communication tool. The tool allows for an endless stream of posts, viral communication and information about events. Links can be created in an instant and it is the ideal tool for quickly getting an answer.

The Usage is All Important

Because of the differences in the two communication networks, the usage reason becomes important. Recent research indicated that around a third of people using social media are willing to pay for the services offered by Facebook and only about a fifth of users willing to do the same for Twitter. When it comes to business though, the figures suggest that businesses are more willing to pay for Twitter services rather than Facebook ones. The main reason – instant communication and feedback from users.

Another study showed Facebook trailing behind Twitter when it comes to business to business marketing and communication, but when it comes to the business to consumer category, Facebook is on tops. This is largely due to the interactivity and visual tools available in Facebook. The consumers love the glamour and glitz of images, discussions, and videos. Businesses, however, are information focussed and as such appreciate the fast flow of information on Twitter.

Facebook is doing better when it comes to businesses that have already developed a brand and strong presence on the Internet. Twitter seems to perform well in the B2B category for quick updates. With the Retweet option, a message can quickly spread and large amounts of traffic driven. Unlike with Facebook where a large fan base may be needed to create the desired awareness, the simple manner in which Twitter tweets and retweets work make it easy to quickly get the message out.

Twitter Overall Advantages and Disadvantages for Business

Easy navigation and quick updating in addition to linking for spreading the message are some of the positive features of the tool. You are not limited to your immediate fan list or group of supporters because re-tweeting allows for spreading of the message world-wide. Quick responses and immediate customer feedback are essential when launching a new product or service. With the RSS feeder a user doesn’t have to login to get updates. It is interactive and streamlined.

On the negative side, it offers less functionality than Facebook with only 140 character tweets allowed. People don’t fall in love with the tool right from the start and it can become a bit of a spam magnet.

Facebook Overall Advantages and Disadvantages for Business

It is easy to interact and create sticky content. Many users have already indicated that they prefer logging into their Facebook and stay logged in the whole day. As such they update and because of the like feature, what your fans like will also mean their friends will see. Pretty soon all the likes will feature at your site. They can see which of their friends like and use your site and transparency is improved. It offers a tremendous user base and with fun to use applications and gifts that can be send to users, loyalty can be built pretty quickly.

Responses are not as quick as with Twitter and users must be logged in to ensure quick responses. The updating and navigation part are time thieves.

How to Choose Between Facebook and Twitter

The good news is that at the end of the day you don’t have to choose. Use Twitter for the important B2B communication requiring quick responses and to rapidly spread a message. It is a perfect news tool. Use Facebook to build a loyal customer base.

Make the Most of Social Media Networking

Create lists at Facebook to ensure that users only get what is relevant to them, ensuring quicker responses. Make sure that every time a person leaves a wall comment that a response is given. Stop self promotion efforts from users. Simply delete and keep the page clean.

Link to others by means of posting links to their articles – one a day will do the trick. Create polls and make it fun to participate. Link to your own website articles and anywhere your business features on the Internet – once a day. Note that you must create a fan page if you want to succeed as a business at Facebook.

In terms of Twitter – create content worth reading and following. Customise your Facebook pages and at the end of the day – use both because they are here to stay. The tools will not replace normal search, but will improve B2B and B2C communication.