POPwink

With 40 million active users in the US, social networking has grown 93% since 2006 and is poised to play a vital role in the current economic downturn, that also predicts a related increase in social media advertising opportunities. 76% of US broadband users (105 million) are active contributors to the web via social media (including uploading photos, blogging, rating products and other Web 2.0 activities). Moreover, approximately 29%, or 40 million broadband users are regular contributors to the web specifically through social networking sites and are spending increasing amounts of their online time communicating with each other, both one-to-one and one-to-many, according to Netpop Research.

Key findings about US social networkers:

* Social networkers in the US are most likely to be single, employed women, age 18-39 and living somewhere between Indiana and the Atlantic Ocean, or along the west coast.

* A typical social networker connects weekly with an average of 18 people one-to-one, and 110 people one-to-many.

* Social networkers spend an average of 36% of their online time talking and sharing. This compares with 29% for non-contributors to social networks.

* Social networkers use multiple modes to communicate and stay in touch. These include IM, texts, blogs and microblogs.

* The top two social networks in the US are Facebook and MySpace. Currently, 60% of social networkers use Facebook, 63% use MySpace and 34% use both. However, Facebook has grown 500% between 2006 and 2008, catching up to MySpace in regular users in the past year.

* Other social networking sites are popular among subsets of US users with broadband, including employed networkers (who use LinkedIn, Friendster, Plaxo); students (who use IMeem, LastFM, and Veoh) and retirees (who use reunion, Groups.Google and Classmates.com).

Social networkers also are much more likely to shop and spend more online than their non-contributing peers. Social networkers buy a variety of products and services and spend an average of $101 online per month, the study found. This compares with non-contributors to social networks, who spend $80 per month. The top sources used by social networkers when making shopping decisions are search engines, brand or manufacturer sites, online-only retail sales and auction sites. Some 6% also use social networking sites to decide what to buy.

Individuals who participate in a social networking site, 71% have profiles on two or more different properties, with 26% having established four or more profiles.

Among social networkers who report having two or three profiles:

25.6% are 18 to 24 yearss old
23.3% are 25 to 34 years olds
14.7% are 35 to 44 years old
15.6% are 45 to 54 years old
18.4% are 55 to 64 years old

Among people with four or more profiles:

* 31% are between the ages of 25 and 34
* 14.1% are 55 to 64 years old

Social media will play the same role in this recession that movies played in the Depression. Brands that experiment in social advertising now will be in the best position to leverage these important media channels when the economy turns the corner.

So what does user-generated content mean for brands? How can a brand leverage social media and user-generated content to sell product, make stronger connections to consumers, create a buzz and ultimately drive revenue? We have some keys to success but not all. Its an evolving industry that is moving rapidly. I would say the top brand take-aways from the UCGx event are this:

1. pick a social media type that is strategically right for your business and your brand.
2. invest in it like you would any real brand marketing effort and stick with it until you have something to measure
3. put your best people on it because its also a direct feedback loop to your customer
4. make your content relevant to your brand, customer, group, commmunity
5. align with a community that will find your information valuable and useful
6. take advantage of the many amazing web tools developed or being developed to improve the distribution, experience, tracking and usability of UGC or a social network.
7. you don’t have to spend allot, but you need to plan how to make it work for your brands objectives
8. brands large to small need to find ways to connect with thier customers and traditional advertising doesn’t work anymore - social media is a new way to connect if you can do it in a way that is fun and relevant, otherwise its ignored and even an annoyance

I just returned from the UCGx (User Generated Content) event at the San Jose Convention Center, in San Jose, where the rock stars of social media and content gathered to share experiences, insights, and rev thier engines. This event brought together the top brains in the business who are working fast and furious to race to create new solutions, experiences and revenue streams using social platforms. A few key points became very clear: monetizing or generating revenue, experimentation and discovery, and relevance to communities. Another thing that’s clear is that users like the connected, spontaneous, collaborative, random, no rules-style of today’s open source social platforms. UGCx was broken into 4 primary categories; Social Content, Music, Photography, and Video/Gaming, and did a good job at covering leading technology, understanding the new rules of a distributed marketplace, and keys to success.

We heard from proven revenue solutions and thier founders, like iStockphoto and CafePress, as they shared their vision, strategy, as well as discovery. Both agree that users have a life of thier own and is often hard to forecast. We heard from companies advancing social media to the mobile device, and how large brands are making thier social content mobile. They stressed experimentation to see what works, but this seems best suited for companies with large budgets. We heard from communities like CafeMom and The Active Network who have defined groups, and groups within groups, for the ability to reach specific interests and successfully monetize thier sites and communities. We heard what’s happening, or not happening, in Hollywood, and how film and video can license and receive revenue from user-generated content. Same goes for the music biz. It was extremely informative and I wish I could have cloned myself to sit in on the other tracks.

UCGx will be hosting an East Coast version of this event later in 2009. Go to www.ugcxevent.com
I highly recommend it.

Watch this space for new and improved pithy comments on the wonderful world of naming, branding and other stuff.

Today, PETA suggested that New Hampshire Community Technical-College Manchester, who is asking the public to help rename its institution, call it KentuckyFriedCruelty.com Community College.

PETA Assistant Director of Factory Farming Campaigns Matt Prescott had this to say about it:

“Changing its name to KentuckyFriedCruelty.com Community College would be a win-win situation for the school,” says Prescott. “It would give the college the most unique name in all of academia, and it would add to the pressure on KFC to stop turning a blind eye to animal suffering on a massive scale.”

They may have had a shot at it, but unfortunately the suggested names had to be submitted by October 26th.

I know this was a beak in cheek suggestion, (at least I hope so), but it is a way for PETA to get their message out. I hope they take every opportunity to enter every naming contest for pandas, streets, grade schools and small children.

Don’t ask me why I was looking at WorldPoultry.net, but they are reporting that “Following Kiotech International’s acquisition of Agil at the end of 2006, the company has rebranded to become Kiotechagil.

The article goes on to quote a company official in a very press-release fashion:

“Our aim is for Kiotechagil to become recognised as the leading player in supplying high performance natural feed additives which enhance health, growth and sustainability in aquaculture and agriculture,” said CEO Richard Edwards. “Our drive to build closer ties with leading research organisations should also lead to an enhanced product portfolio.”

“With our new Kiotechagil brand we now have a clear focus on becoming a leading supplier of natural feed additives to the aquaculture and agriculture industries,” said Edwards.” In addition, with a strengthened management team we can concentrate on developing new products for our customers and opening up in new territories in addition to the 50 countries we currently serve.”

What is weird about this is I see this same information in places like ThePigSite.com (that’s right) and the aforementioned WorldPoultry.net, but the company itself does not have the press release on their own news page. To continue the weirdness, each of the two combined companies are still each operating individual websites under their own names without any overt mention of their affiliation.

It seems to me they need to actually combine into one company now that they have announced their new name and rebranding as Kiotechagil.

So I go to check GoDaddy.com and to my surprise saw that Kiotechagil.com was available. I would have thought that sometime during the rebranding process, someone would have thought to buy the domain name. But no, it was unclaimed. So, I bought it before some quick thinking squatter snapped it up to hold it hostage. I, on the other hand, have only altruistic designs. I will transfer it to them, no questions asked.

Well, I may ask them why they didn’t register the domain name. Oh, and why the new name is just the old names smashed together.

Update: They contacted me, and I, the humanitarian, gave it to them. They couldn’t believe I didn’t want anything in return. Pay it forward.

At first I thought this was some sort of joke, but it looks like the real thing.

In a recent domain name auction the Dallas Cowboys bid on and won the domain name Cowboys.com for $275,000. Problem is, when the Cowboys proxy bid “275″, they apparently thought it was $275 not $275,000. Really? Come on.

Anyway, here is the full story with a bunch of updates and links.

I’ll leave it to you to use the appropriate sports analogy (i.e. fumbled the pass, dropped the ball, swing and a miss, etc.).

Bottom line, Cowboys backed out (looking like idiots) and the domain went back up for bid and resold to a real buyer for about $100,000 more than the Cowboys pretended to buy if for.

Broadcasting & Cable reports that “Network Makeover Sentences Brand of 16 Years to Obscurity”. That brand? Court TV.

I commented on this in July, but could not help but take another pass at the new moniker of Court TV.

Here is a quote from the article:

“Although Turner said it worked with three naming companies that produced 4,500 potential names, it was Juris [Marc Juris, Court TV’s general manager] who came up with “tru.” Not only did it sum up what he and other Turner executives thought the network’s primetime programming was — true stories — it is also the last three letters of “Court” spelled backward.“

Oy.

This is the new logo/tagline to go along with the new name:

Merriam-Webster defines actuality as “something that is actual :
fact, reality”

Soooo, the tagline could be translated to:

Not Reality. Well, OK, I guess it’s Reality

Tru dat.

Gigglesugar offers the Match the Weird Kid Name to the Celeb Parent, and asks:

“Do some celebs name their children unusual and just plain freaky names because they think their spawn is too special for an ordinary name? I think that might be it. Either that, or they want to add difficulty to what would otherwise be a charmed and easy life.”

In any case, it’s the nanny’s problem. She’s the one calling them to dinner.

I got a 6/10, but I was not really invested in getting a good grade.