An interesting departure

British Airways has launched its very own social media platform – Metrotwin. The online community links those from 'the two greatest cities in the world' - London and New York, and represents one of the most significant drives into social media by a big brand.

The network allows users to provide recommendations of the best places to go and things to do in both cities whilst also helping users navigate the vast amount of online information on the two cities. Echoing Facebook, Metrotwin lets users create profiles, follow others and review and rate different aspects of London and New York.

This use of social networking signals a trend whereby content is becoming more niche and personalised. Where once an individual, group or brand might set up a page or group on a networking site, perhaps our demands and experiences are such that we now want to be able to create an entire platform to establish a unique, personal and relevant social network.

Facebook Chat > IM ?

So Facebook Chat went live today (after a couple of weeks of private beta testing) allowing users to see which of their friends are online and chat in real time the same way one would on MSN Messenger, Skype or GoogleTalk.

ReadWriteWeb has a good summary of the features from the original Facebook blog announcement at the start of the month...

UPDATE - Ok, been playing for 10 minutes and the UI is REALLY good for a V1 release. Initial thoughts are it needs a floating notification widget / desktop client for when your browser is minimised but that's about it. This is going to have a considerable impact on the IM market and it will be interesting to see the competitor and press reaction over the coming weeks.

End of Facebook? It was just blip

So last month I blogged on how, for the first time, the press had got its teeth into Facebook as user numbers were down over the Christmas period.

They saw it as the beginning of the end.

They were wrong.

"We're getting bored of Facebook!!"

All that talk of online video reminded me of a viral that's been doing the rounds recently - The Facebook Anthem. 500,000 hits in a week is pretty good and it does fuel the fire that people are getting a bit bored of the 'book.



It seems like only yesterday these geeky kids at Cambridge were first singing its praises before the rest of the world cottoned on...

Decline of Social Networking?

So a number of papers reported this morning on the apparent 'death of social networking' as Facebook's users declined (drop in uniques) for the first time between December and January.

Here is a round up of some of headlines so far:

The Guardian - 'Facebook Fatigue'

Forbes - 'Facebook Falters'

The Times - 'Is Facebook Finally Losing Its Glow?'

The Register - 'Facebook Loses a Few Bitches'

But here's the reality, (well done Techcrunch for highlighting this within minutes). Facebook's users are still 712% higher than this time last year and we always see a dip in users during this period because of the Christmas holidays and people being on holiday and away from work and their computers.

Website traffic fluctuates in the same way the stock market does. Just because numbers are down one month does not mean impending doom.

Give it time. Social networking may be beginning to slow as the initial craze begins to fade, but it will be interesting to see how people continue to integrate it into their daily routines.

Throwing sheep, vampire-bites and superpokes will become tiresome but there are a host of useful apps out there making Facebook so appealing to so many.

What did we learn at the Spider event?

So…our event. What did we learn? Each presentation was pretty different but you could see common themes across the set. Social media gives you access to mammoth audience sizes but effective identification and targeting of small, but influential crowds is required – so it’s all about the ‘niche’. Can bloggers be PR’d? Iain Dale and our MD, Debbie Wosskow disagreed on this point. The conclusion? Highly relevant information passed to bloggers is an effective way of encouraging both advocacy and feedback. Rewards are important. Both Alistair and Richard talked about rewards – a carrot for consumers as they engage with the campaign. The lesson is that the reward doesn’t have to be a big cash prize – relevancy and a tailored experience are more important. Take time to get to know your audience - your ‘niche’.

The interaction between traditional and new media was a discussion point. Iain described how, by writing a popular blog, he is now an attractive commentator for the national mainstream press. His internet TV channel, ’18 Doughty Street’ is another example of the adoptability of new forms of media for niche audiences who want more than a generic offering.

Richard from ITV talked us through the minxy Belle de Jour case study. The Facebook profile moderated by the elusive Belle herself, the use of the revamped ITV.com and previews for fans all combined to help a traditional media company communicate with a younger audience on a platform they engage with. Again, rewarding them with exclusive content before anybody else. For further reading.....

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Neville Hobson provided an insightful look in the social media ecosystem and, in particular, the tools that facilitate communication, engagement, transparency and trust. Participation was his key theme, command control tactics no longer work, companies have to employ social media, ultimately because in today’s web 2.0 world, you no longer have a choice. For further reading.......

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Thanks again to all our speakers and attendees. Head over to Neville’s blog to read his thoughts on the event, and the venue (!).