Yup, you read that right – we are officially 10 weeks old! To mark this momentous occasion we have a bumper edition packed with all of this week’s hot-to-trot social news including the story the tech world has been waiting years for – Facebook's IPO! Enjoy!
You know what’s cool? 100 billion dollars
After years of postulation and rumours, Facebook finally announced its formal stock market floatation this week. Few can doubt the sheer global power of the company as it approaches a record-setting $100 billion valuation. Interestingly, in the documentation for the IPO, several key details emerged, including the fact that 12% of Facebook’s revenue comes from Zynga and its numerous games on the platform, and the fact that sponsors such as Starbucks can pay to have check-ins to their stores promoted on users’ timelines above other news posts. Does Facebook deserve the colossal valuation or will the bubble burst?
Everyone’s a winner (baby!)
As well as Facebook’s IPO helping to line the wallets of the Facebook top dogs, it’s also doing its thing to help out the little folk. Several years ago artist David Choe was asked to decorate the interior of Facebook’s HQ – instead of receiving payment in cash he chose to receive it in stock, a potentially risky strategy. Fortunately for him, his gamble paid off and with news of Facebook’s floatation he now finds himself the recipient of a cool $200 million. We’re not jealous, honest!
What’s absolutely nuts and would do anything for exposure?
Katie Price, aka Jordan, surprised fans earlier this week when her tweets deviated from their usual idle chatter to informed discussion on the Eurozone crisis and the effects of quantitative easing. Alas, the world had not flipped upside down and it was, in fact, an elaborate ruse orchestrated by Snickers to promote their newest campaign, “You’re not you when you’re hungry”. Apparently tacking on a #spon (short for sponsored - allegedly) did little to satiate the ASA which is currently investigating this very surreptitious marketing ploy. Should sponsored tweets be clearly marked from the outset?
Brand new brand pages for Brits
Twitter lifted the lid on its new tools for UK brands this week, allowing them to have a greater say in the design and functionality of their page. Cadburys was one of the first adopters of the new pages and currently uses it to promote its key sponsorship with the 2012 Olympics. Obvious changes include the ability to have a banner below the brand description, as well as the ability to keep a post permanently promoted to the top of their Twitter feed. With Twitter announcing planned revenues of $150 million for 2011, it’s not hard to see them doing so with neat strategies like this.
You could hear a pin drop…
Pinterest has been the centre of attention over the past week, particularly as it accounted for 3.6% of all referral traffic in January, more than YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace. It was only narrowly beaten by Twitter, by 0.01%. The ‘rising star’, as it is being dubbed, is a social shopping experience, disguised as a website full of interests. Attracting 11m unique visitors in December it is certainly one to watch. For more, check out eModeration’s five part blog on getting the most from the site.
And finally...
Talking tactics
Although a 30 second advertising slot during the Super Bowl costs an estimated $3.5m, brands have been using social to debut their adverts ahead of the big match. With notable adverts including David Beckham in his underwear, VW’s nod to its Star Wars’ ad, Audi’s Vampire Party and Kia’s five hours of Adriana Lima, social has extended the shelf life of the expensive Super Bowl ads. One of the most interesting teasers came from Coca-Cola, who will run an interactive site (cokepolarbowl.com) sharing its polar bears' reactions to events from the match. To see which brand is being talked about the most, check out BrandWatch’s Super Bowl page.
Make sure you also check out our weekly 'Brand Barometer' feature with Marketing Magazine. This week we look at Müller, a brand which appears to have its wires crossed on social.
Sam MacLeod, Account Manager, Yomego (www.yomego.com)
#YomegoSocial @YomegoSocial @CoolTweetBro
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