Social Pressure: Investors Versus Consumers

Both money and relationships are vital for sustainability, yet it is money that has been the main cause of many broken relationships. It is souring Facebook’s too, with its 900+ users.  Will they run away from the new monetization schemes as investors did, post IPO?

Investment risks

Facebook’s first angel investor and member of its board of directors, Peter Thiel recently sold most of his Facebook shares as the company’s stock fell. For companies, hedge funds from those such as Thiel, are a security boon because of their sizable investment that cannot be liquidated the first year. Mutual funds being more common tend to retreat in large numbers the moment stocks drop. Both situations are deadly for a company. And that’s the kind of pressure Facebook is currently faced with.

New investors are therefore hardly encouraged.

Relationship risks

In response, Zuckerberg seems torn between pleasing his users and investors. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted to his company’s volatility.

And so we witness the revival of Facebook Gifts, first featured two years ago and subsequently shut off because it proved profitless. This time around, Facebook’s commerce initiative could work for users who see it as a way to increase their bonding with their friends via the network. This is still not as risky as some other ventures, such as advertising, no longer a free service.

Marketing with different rules

COO Sheryl Sandberg has made it plain that payment will also be required to access additional features provided by the network. The strategy is similar to how other social networks operate, but considering this to be a free for all network, new users will think twice before joining Facebook, while current users may reconsider staying put on the network.

It is clear Facebook is not cut out for the cut-and-dry advertisers and all attempts have been fruitless. The pressure has led to privacy violations and protests from users. Despite that, Wall Street Journal reports how the social medium continues to provide internal as well as external user data to marketers.

Facebook asks users to verify their real identity through their phone numbers. Now marketers can target customers by matching Facebook’s email and phone numbers with their own lists. And yes, these companies have also received enough ROI to continue on this path. But users are displeased.

Apps and mobile are perhaps the only two ventures that to count on, both as user and investor attraction. Facebook apps and Facebook Fan pages require little investment and returns are high. Mobile app ROI are even higher, with small and medium sized businesses showing keen interest in making their presence felt on both platforms. Both combined as Facebook mobile apps could produce impressive numbers.  This means rather than seeing users as consumers Facebook can focus on mobile companies and Facebook developers as their partners. Organic advertising will bring relief to all.

 

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Facebook Changes…No Not Again!

Facebook’s notorious reputation of making sudden changes is slowly dissipating. Facebook has just updated the iOS SDK, which is now available as version 3.1 with native UI. And this time, everyone seems prepared, for a change.

When author Andreas Ramos wrote a post about Facebook’s changes, his advice at the end of it was in fact a warning to ‘not rely on Facebook’ because it was ‘run by kids’ who do as they please and ‘won’t even notify’ when they make changes to their site.

Remarks such as these may have contributed to spur CEO Mark Zuckerberg to action, perhaps to prove people such as Andreas wrong? More concerning is how quickly the pendulum swung to the other side, with Facebook’s fast paced changes. Their two main goals are to move to mobile platform ASAP and to monetize.

Instead they now send an advance notice on their website to Facebook developers to prepare for any new change in the layout or feature are all put up to read on their website. Highly recommended is the Developer Roadmap page.

But the main issue is how well Facebook developers and users are adapting to the changes. Or are they not? Perhaps everyone became too comfortable and lazy coding during Facebook’s pre-mobile era. Even users felt disoriented. And by now the second and third parties should accept that such pace in development will continue because of Facebook’s very dynamic outlook.

While most of the changes are not too visible on the UI, their main pages and features have undergone a major upheaval. Such as Facebook’s Fan Pages, where in June this year, HBML was completely deleted and replaced by iFrame apps. On the exterior, as Facebook Timeline layout was enforced, so did Facebook Fan Page layout converge to become more interactive through the new ‘Message’ feature and provided better user control over posts and feedback.

Advertising and marketing also took on a new look, with features such as ‘Sponsored Stories’ and ‘Reach Generator’ to expand the fan base, thereby removing PPC (pay per click) advertisements.

The ones who are managing well are those who are reading up. It must be more than annoying because not only is it time consuming, it is also extra workload. However, it’s worth the trouble, especially for developers, because creating Facebook applications are a whole lot different.

It is always wiser to maintain a positive attitude, this goes for developers and users alike. Embrace change, and everyday will feel like new, better than a dull routine. Make the best use of their features and you can’t go wrong. Easier said than done…but with complete commercialization on the horizon, Facebook is certainly balancing it all pretty well so far.

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Better Now Than Never: Apple’s Faith In Facebook

Following IPO’s subsequent downfall, the young entrepreneur was pelted with harsh criticism by investors and media alike. One company however, stood by Facebook. What had Apple Inc known the rest didn’t?

They said he was not groomed for the real world of business. That his company’s volatility was high risk investment. A Forbes article instigated he was not ‘up to the management task.’

Just a few days earlier Facebook’s stock hit an  ‘all-time low,’ where the share price was down by half of the IPO figure. Investors panicked. Facebook was silent.

Then Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO reemerged. Which seemed coincidental – or well planned. His interview at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012 resulted in Facebook shares rise by 4.6%. The following day, Facebook officially integrated with iOS on the launch of iPhone 5. The network’s shares rose even further by 7.7%.

Retrospect. Apple and Facebook had been busy hatching a great plot. Apple needed social desperately. Facebook needed mobile desperately. Together they have managed to produce what may be the best of social experience on mobile to date.

Maybe Apple believed all along about Facebook’s immense mobile potential. Perhaps they could afford the risk as well, unlike many small investors. It isn’t just about social and mobile integration, which is not uncommon on other OSs. Apple’s improved hardware and software features seem perfectly designed for social networking:  Of the 200 new features installed on the iPhone5, Facebook takes the largest piece of the cake from the App Store.

Reason for the tech company to have shown confidence in the network is the latter’s continued population growth, an ocean of commerce. The large screen display on the smartphone is intended as a major attraction for advertisers, who were always hesitant about mobile platform because of their small estate. iPhone 5 has a larger screen and great graphic display, which provides fair room for both user and advertiser.

Since networking is an absorbing and therefore time-consuming activity, users can now make the most of it on the iPhone 5 which has stronger more battery power compared to any other smartphone. Faster internet browsing has also been made possible with the new A6 processor chip. Photo viewing in panoramic mode is also an added incentive for photo viewing.

The ‘Like’ tab has been optimized through push notifications for all apps which will divert traffic back to Apple’s App Store. Voice recognition feature, Siri, can be used to post Facebook updates verbally. A very convenient feature for those who are commuting and where typing post on the touchphone is extremely irksome.

All in all, it’s a partnership blossoming with mutual benefits, both for Apple’s and Facebook app developers. And one that has accelerated the downhill slide for the desktop computer, where once upon a time Facebook was born.

 

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Brilliant Business Acumen Show at Tech Event

For all the tech geeks out there, it’s time to come out from behind your tablets, mobiles and PC screens and into the real world.  Because neither emoticons nor chat messages can substitute the real you. Whatever you have to sell, it will be have to be through your physical appearance. And Mark Zuckerberg will vouch for that.

TechCrunch is a media platform that covers all things technology. TechCrunch Disrupt SF is an annual global event. It serves as an introductory platform for startup ventures. (Yammer started off here). The event concludes with a grand trophy, which is a cash prize of USD 50,000 to the most innovative startup of the year.

This year, Disrupt SF 2012 attracted scores of startups (estimated at 300) and angel investors from all over the world. For instance, the all-women run Forerunner Ventures. Another business initiative was presented by Hacker Rank as “The Olympics of Programming” for “building the largest   collection of the world’s most interesting problems for hackers to solve.

The presentation of each has been aggressive on the Battlefield. Microsoft GM Rahul Sood criticized p (k) Prior Knowledge, a cloud-based predictive database startup for application developers. Sood suggested a balance of business with creativity and for p (k) to include marketing professionals in their all-engineer team.

With tough competition, the judges’ panel, which includes CEO, Yahoo! Marissa Mayer, had a hard time deciding this year’s trophy winner.

The Facebook legacy

The highlight of this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt was the Fireside Chat with Facebook’s CEO. With 950 million users, there’s no looking back for Facebook’s CEO. This was his first appearance following the IPO plummet, which seems to have cleared the air a bit. It wasn’t just about what he spoke, which he could have sent on an e-mail.

Zuckerberg presence seems to have reassured investors that the social network has a viable future worth considering seriously. No sooner had his conversation ended with Michael Arrington of CrunchFund when Facebook shares rose by 4.6%.

Zuckerberg spoke of deeper mobile integration and monetization, work on “long term projects and build good stuff,” and plenty of opportunities in gaming and search conduction. He added how Facebook applications drive morale, such as on Instagram.

The interview also dispelled rumors regarding a Facebook mobile. Facebook is keener on integration on “all devices” than invest in hardware, Zuckerberg confirmed.

Referring to his own codes, Zuckerberg said “Everything we do breaks, but we fix it quickly.” It emitted laughter from the audience, but Facebook users still criticize the cost of such ‘mistakes’ that resulted in irreversible privacy loss.  However, Zuckerberg admitted to “betting too much on HTML5 than native” being their “biggest strategic mistake” in mobile development, now rectified on iOS with Objective C as programming language.

With all said and done, all startups and seasoned businesses should learn from this: there is no room for mistakes in the tech world, whether it’s one user or 950 million of them.

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Facebook’s Need For Speed-y Action

“We’ve rebuilt the app so it’s faster and easier to use.” With this latest statement issued at the iTunes store, Facebook has gained several points with its mobile users.

When in Rome…Facebook may have understood the need but seemed to have avoided the eventual: which was to go native on the iOS. Finally, they recently hauled their mobile app on iPhone and iPad by switching from the web-friendly HTML5 to i-friendly Objective C. The 5.0 version update contains more than double the speed than its predecessor.

We can only guess the reason for delay. Could be because HTML5 allows direct access to content and updates, whereas using Objective C means rerouting through the app store. By the time the app opened to Newsfeed, it would be time for the user on the go (Facebook needs to be reminded of this), to get on with whatever is on their busy agenda. Another reason could be HTML5’s cross-platform compatibility.

This delay proved costly as users deleted the app because of its snail-paced speed. Goes to show the company needs to speed up its decision-making and action process too. But what they have made it clear that mobile is the way to go. And hopefully they’re reading up on feedback too.

Users do understand the trouble that goes into making technological changes. One little feedback among a torrent of spam can prove to be most useful for companies like Facebook, who attempt to balance their monetary success, which is not happening as well as expected, but also to fulfill user demands that are just as fast paced.

So time is most crucial here, because of the growing competition among social networks like Foursquare that are completely mobile. And no sooner have they improved on speed come a another hail of comments about how they need to work on other features such as sharing and to pay equal attention to other mobile devices such as Android and Blackberry.

On the other hand there are Facebook developers who have to contend with the changes too. They have been content since the introduction of Facebook App Center on iPhone, because that meant they did not have to make create two separate apps for the web plus iOS. It may be that they would have to do a little more learning. Right now Facebook apps on require a blend of PHP and HTML5, but it’s likely that it will soon become mandatory for all programming languages to be device-specific. It’s now a question of how cross platform compatibility will be possible when and if the change does happen.

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Of Music, Sports and Social Media

The closing ceremony of Olympics 2012 was all glitz and glamour, showcasing the music and fashion culture of Britain in its prime. The event appeared more a rock concert than sport-oriented. But the audience looked thoroughly entertained and even the participants didn’t seem to mind being sidelined for the show. But what this Olympics event apart was how it outclassed all other sport events in history as far as duration and artists was concerned.

The main reason for the exaggerated attention to music can be attributed to the amount of social activity that revolved around the event. Olympics 2012 has been considered most technologically advanced and social-centered event in the history of the Olympiads and frequently referred to as ‘social games’ or social Olympics ‘The organizing committee was aware of the discussions that poured in by the minute on various social networks. Facebook was the most active network, followed by Twitter. So much so that Facebook apps and games were especially created with the Olympics as their central theme.

Olympics is not the only sports event to provide music-rich entertainment. Soccer too has seen a flurry of music activity, featuring some of the most distinguished artists. ‘Waka Waka’ was the official song for FIFA 2010 performed by Shakira. The song caught the world’s attention for it colorful mix of Afro-English performance.  Ricky Martin’s ‘Cup of Life’ for FIFA 1998 became an instant hit. Jennifer Lopez’s ‘Let’s Get Loud’ was dedicated to spur up the US soccer team in 1994.  The list goes on. The commercial interests of such partnerships are great for both: the event attracts a larger crowd because of the added entertainment while musicians receive instant worldwide publicity and high sales record.

Perform, a sports media group survey revealed that1 in 4 American citizens ‘follow sports via social media.’ Certainly encouraging news for those planning future sports events. Social media provides quick updates through posts and news rather than watching entire lengths of programs. This works out especially for those who are not as passionate about sports. Not only do the fans benefit, but so do the participants. By creating Facebook fan page, participants have the opportunity to interact with players. This is also a fair means for achieving recognition especially for the newcomers and amateurs.

With these three very powerful influences future sports events are likely to be even more exciting. The culturally rich and vibrant Brazil, the next Olympic venue is definitely going to make the most it all.

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Unified Marketing and Advertisement on Social Media

Unified marketing tends to make optimal use the variety of advertising platforms present today, which include both new and old platforms such as outdoor billboards, television, social media, tablets, PCs and smartphones. While some platforms are more limited than others social media is one that offers the broadest forms of campaigning, where the door to door salesman is now replaced by word-of mouth by users within the network. Most of all, it is the variety and flexibility in its content that makes social media marketing diverse as much as it is enriching.

The concept does not directly oppose integrated marketing, but in effect, has broken away from traditional methods. The earlier belief that repetition or persistence turned customers into buyers is no longer withheld. Such tactics only tended to annoy and drive away customers. Also, the uniformity of advertisements across various media simply seemed a waste. On the other hand, unified marketing treats each platform in a distinct manner and marketing campaigns are customized accordingly.

This brings us to content management. While text and photos have their own standing, the use of videos and movies is increasingly gaining lead, ahead of text and images. One of the main reasons is that this type of content is no longer dependent on professional video equipment nor staff, but an application. With a touch of a tab, anyone can create a video or movie. Not to mention what was once a very expensive investment, now there are no monetary costs involved. It all depends on what a user has fed into his or her posts. The most advantageous of all factors is that off site venues such as Facebook allow user control, unlike third parties, which are controlled by their owners. This control factor is very important for brands, which can administer, edit and monitor the content at their will rather than depending on others who may not have an inkling of the company’s vision and goals.

Most recently, a Facebook application has caught the attention for its unique experience. ‘Timeline Movie Maker’ app creates a one-minute movie, the contents of which are extracted from the user data. This is a direct incentive towards brands looking for inimitable marketing campaigns. Designed by a marketing agency that specializes in unified marketing, the app is an ideal strategy tool for companies to highlight their past and present achievements. For those who have figured how to get timeline on Facebook, their next step should be implementing in-built applications or have them created by Facebook application developers.

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Growth Hacker: what’s in a name?

As one reviewer puts it, growth hacker is more than just a role—it’s a ‘way of thinking.’

And it’s high time they are given due recognition. While the job title has been recently coined, the job description is not new. To give the merger a name serves to boost the confidence of those who had long fit the criteria of marketer with technical skills. Facebook Fan Page creators are a prime example because of their ability to apply their creative as well as technical skills to increase fan base for a business.

But let’s not confuse once again through designations and organograms. Although due credit must be given for providing clarity in concept, some reviewers disagree with Andrew Chen’s blog, which sounds a pitch off for assigning growth hackers the post of ‘VP Marketing’! My assumption is it tends to detract and/or disturb core business operations. Since growth hackers function to provide scalable and sustainable marketing for startup ventures, they must instead focus on maintaining equilibrium with staff and company goals as well as possess an individual identity to work independently. At this point, social media is ripe for growth hacking. Facebook has streamlined them as ‘marketing developers’ who are adopting various marketing techniques in line with software development, such asFacebook applications.

Another major responsibility for growth hackers is to continually adapt and then readapt their methodology to fit dynamic needs of a business. This ability to adjust is what sets them apart from the typical marketers. For them to work alongside VPs of relevant departments would be ideal rather than replace them. This means collaborating with multiple teams and departments that fall categorically under marketing, sales and production. They may already be working within the organization without recognition of their expertise.

Another key point is to focus on the system as a whole and not the person. Businesses are sometimes too people-dependent. In this case, when a specific individual leaves an organization, the entire department is affected. System dependency, on the other hand, is therefore considered more reliable, where organizations make it very clear to their employees that they are not indispensable. Growth hackers serve as part of the system: their absence will not be halt production processes, but their presence will serve to complement marketing and boost sales figures.

Hakim Sadik Found this Post on Avenuesocial

Hakim Sadik exponentially improves the reach of Businesses and Online Marketers. A social media expert, Sadik, is the insightful leader of Avenue Social’s client service team. Sadik has helped over 1000 clients bring their social media and mobile applications to life.

Is Apple Isolating Users Through Limited Content?

No one knows for sure what the up and coming iOS6 will have, but they are certain of what it will not have, which is, its competitors’ services. Already Apple ousted Google Maps and instead indicated they have their very own mapping technology as pre installed application on iOS6 devices.

This is now followed by the termination of their contract with the YouTube app, another Google acquisition. Apple confirmed they intended to use Vimeo, acquired by Apple a few months back.

Very brave decisions. Apple Inc may have weighed the pros against the cons, but can’t say they can be commended. Sure there’s valid reason behind them, such as excessive advertising of Google AdSense.  Also Google has the upper hand to promote their content over others. The previous month’s comScore report showed Google in the top slots in the US online video ranking and Vimeo though slowly gaining viewership is down at 10.

But in their bid to be independent and focus on high standards, they are not just isolating themselves, but the users. Other smartphones have a large share in the market because they cater to the masses. YouTube ranks highest among the video websites in the world. That such popular apps have been discarded will prevent people from using iOS technology. No matter how brilliant their iOS apps, very soon they will find themselves losing their largest share of smartphone customers.

User needs should be given top priority. Everything is about connecting and integrating. People want an expansive and extensive reach wherever possible. This was earlier achieved through the internet, became more so through social media and games apps which proved more capable in allowing people to share content. Most importantly, users want as many choices available so they can decide which service to use. Excluding popular apps and installs will just leave them wondering what it is they are missing out.

As if this wasn’t enough, analysts believe that the world’s top search engine, Google is next in line to be sliced off iOS6. At the minimum, it will not be the default search engine and worst case, it will not be present at all.

At this point, media has concluded this to be more than healthy competition. They consider it as outright ‘rivalry’. Most affected are the end users. What they could be offered instead are the best of both worlds. Perhaps third party app developers could make some merger apps that could be native to iOS and compatible with Android OS. This is still early speculation and there are chances for all kind of possibilities to develop. Maybe even an iOS-Android smartphone…!?!

Hakim Sadik founds out this Original By SocialJitney.Com

Tech Integrations: When Will Enough Be Enough?

In the world of technology, it is never enough. There is a pressing demand for more, and when there is more, then the need for an entirely new creation. Today, Apple is experiencing this sort of pressure. Despite launching several new product and feature launches at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2012, where even critics admitted they exceeded those launched during the previous conferences, there was plenty of dissatisfaction expressed from within the industry.

It has been exactly one year since Apple integrated Twitter into their iOS5 platform. The question that arose at the time was why they chose Twitter over Facebook. Now it’s déjà vu, except this time it is why Facebook and not Google plus. The former was understandable: Twitter, even with its 200 million users at the time, was no match for Facebook’s 700 million users. Various explanations, some of them outlandish were given by analysts for this decision as:

• Facebook in comparison was far more complex because of its and myriad features and services
• Apple had a fallout during negotiations with Facebook
• Windows Phone 7 had been the first smartphone to integrate Facebook and Apple did not want to play second fiddle
• Apple needed more time to prepare for the world’s largest social network

The last assumption sounded most plausible and proved to be correct, as Apple announced Facebook integration featured in their up and coming iOS6 platform during this year’s WWDC. Their rejection of Google services has been pretty much outright, not only of their social services but also of their applications, ousting the popular Google Maps and bringing in their own version of mapping technology.

While bitter rivalry turns to friendship and vice versa in the business world, at least Apple is keeping their priorities intact by providing the largest ground for mobile application developers to delve into. But it’s the second party apps, that is, the end users that are primarily running the show successfully. And if Apple keeps in tune with their demands for iPhone applications, then they will continue to provide as many options as possible. Where iOS5 users felt confined to Twitter, they now have Facebook, but they also want LinkedIn and Google+ and some lesser known social media as well to be available. For now, the line is pretty much drawn. In their own right, it makes sense for the company to withhold their own. But not for long, experts believe, when Google will find their way in tomorrow, as Facebook has done today and Twitter did yesterday, provided of course, Google remains in the league. Then integration may be the only way out for Apple yet again.

Originally Posted By SocialJitney.Com