Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Facebook Growth Stats Tell Some Stories” plus 4 more

Facebook Growth Stats Tell Some Stories
Could An Amazon Android Market Tip the Mobile Scales in Google’s Favor?
Facebook and the Science of Word Choice
New Study Says Hispanics are the Ideal Online Consumer
The 11 Unwritten Laws of Reputation Management

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 06:46 AM PST

Who doesn't love a good infographic? The folks at All Facebook brought this istrategylabs data to our attention so we are passing it along. The data is said to be collected "directly from Facebook's Social Ads system." Use the usual caution when absorbing.

As for what it means?

Well, it looks like the drug talk on Facebook is really picking up! That's great to know. I wish they had broken it down into over the counter, prescription and illegal drugs. That would have been nice.

It looks like people in Chicago are catching on as well as Houston with big growth numbers. I think the numbers in the Northeast cities (aside from NYC) are smaller because that region figured out long ago that actually relating to people in person can be annoying so they moved their 'friendships' to the controlled environment of Facebook. Now you can be friends without actually caring which is much less intrusive.

I was actually most surprised to learn that there were people in the San Francisco area who weren't on Facebook already. I figured that was the first pin on Facebook's map of world domination and that all inhabitants had been deemed 'under control' by now.

What questions would you like to see answered in greater detail regarding the Facebook experience? Maybe the folks at iStrategyLabs can dig a little deeper for us?

Could An Amazon Android Market Tip the Mobile Scales in Google’s Favor?

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 05:13 AM PST

This year is going to be a very contentious one when it comes to the world of mobile. As everyone continues to jump on board the question is always about who will dominate. RIM actually is still in the lead but that will end this year for sure. Android is leading the charge of current activations (about 300,000 per day) while Apple's iPhone still leads the Android platform overall by an ever slimming margin.

Aside from the service provider issue (AT&T, iPhone, Verizon soap opera) the biggest difference between the world of iPhone and the Android is the open nature of the Android and the closed system of the iPhone. Both have their benefits. The other difference is their app experience from purchase to quality and all stops in between.

I am an Android user (DroidX). I can't do the multiple phone thing like many seem to do but I also have an iPod Touch which allows me to have the app experience with both platforms. Right now there is no comparison in that I find it a better experience acquiring and managing apps for the Apple world. Part of the problem that I have an inherent lack of trust in most Android apps unless attached to a big brand or vetted by the tech community at large because it feels like the Windows world of viruses and technology landmines. I like to error on the side of caution in the tech world.

Enter Amazon in 2011. TechCrunch reports on the progress of the Amazon Android App Store that is supposed to come online this year.

Fragmentation. Curation. Recommendations. Take your pick: Android is getting all three, compliments of a new Amazon-run application marketplace due to launch later this year. Today, Amazon has launched the developer-facing part of the store, inviting devs to submit their applications so that they're ready when the app store is ready for its consumer debut later this year (Amazon isn't giving a firm date on the full launch). The developer portal is athttp://developer.amazon.com.

We reported on this impending news back in September, so it isn't a huge surprise. But it's going to bring some very interesting dynamics to the way Android applications are purchased and distributed. In some senses, this is the Android equivalent of Apple's App Store — even more so than Google's official Android Market.

What I was most interested in was how Amazon is going to have an approval layer that currently doesn't exist in Android market. For people like myself who are concerned about allowing just anyone access to my phone, it creates a level of confidence that at least someone is minding the store and trying to keep the bad guys out.

Amazon is taking an approach that is more in line with Apple's. Developers who wish to appear on Amazon's store have to get approval (Amazon says that the process is currently taking about a week). And Amazon is going to have slightly more stringent guidelines: your application has to work properly (i.e. it can't crash right off the bat) and it has to do what you say it does. It also has to be safe. Android Market has many of these same requirements, but the difference here is that Amazon checks apps before they're deployed to its store, while Google does so after problematic applications are reported.

The TechCrunch article goes into depth about the particulars of this development. As always, I recommend our readers check out our referenced sources because we choose them for a reason (that is to help you get the best information about whatever issues we are examining).

Where the rubber meets the road here is just the fact that if Amazon is getting into the apps game then Google has got to be happy. Amazon's reputation and its distribution power are unmatched. Even with this offering only being in the US it's a huge plus for the Android platform (and by default, Google). Personally, I can't wait to use it.

The TechCrunch post wraps as follows

..the (Amazon) team did say that the mobile storefront is being built with tablets in mind, so my guess is that we can expect this to launch after Android tablets running Honeycomb are on the market (which will probably be around April or later).

I asked the Amazon team how Google felt about the launch — there was an audible chuckle, and they said something about Android being on an amazing growth trajectory and that they were fond of its openness.

Reached for comment, Google gave this statement:

Android is an open platform – and entities other than Google are free to create their own content and marketplaces, much like the web.

I bet they're thrilled.

I have to agree especially with the iPhone set to break away from the chains of its AT&T exclusive agreement. This year in the mobile space will be about the race to the front between iPhone and Android.

Oh, remember the mention of RIM at the start of this post? Expect them to get smaller and smaller in the rearview mirrors of the lead dogs. RIM, can you say, "Going the way of the Palm?"

Facebook and the Science of Word Choice

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 03:29 PM PST

When it comes to posting on Facebook, we’ve looked at what times of day are best, which days of the week are best and whether random posts can help you market your product.

Now, Facebook has gone a step further with a scientific look at word choices on updates. In order to study the words, millions of updates were fed into a computer and broken down by their corresponding Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) categories. Categories referenced parts of speech (pronouns, prepositions, verbs), general topic (work, school, family) or emotional response (happy, sad, angry).

The computer then took the category numbers and sorted them by age groups, time of day and by the popularity of the account. If you want to see all the detailed charts, visit this page on Facebook. If you’ll settle for a quick overview, then stick around.

The most interesting, and somewhat sad, group of findings came about when they measured the frequency of positive and negative words throughout the course of the day. On the chart, blue is the line of happiness. As you can see, it peaks early in the morning then drops off as the day progresses when the negative updates begin to climb. Wow, what does this say for us as a society? We wake up full of hope for a great day then end up sobbing in our beer by midnight. The only saving grace here is that the pattern repeats, so we’re nothing if not resilient.

You won’t be surprised to find that younger Facebookers swear more, are more angry and they use the “I” pronoun more than older users. Older people spend more time talking about family, they use more prepositions (indicating that they write longer and more complex sentences) and they use “We” more often than “I.”

“You” belongs to the popular people, which is probably why they are. Think about it. They also talk less about the past and about their families.

Another fact that came out of this research is something we’ve always known but now have proof. Positive updates get more “likes” but negative updates get more comments. It’s just a fact of life that more people will invest their time in complaining than in complementing.

If you’re Facebooking for dollars there are a few things you can glean from the report. First off, make sure you’re using the same language as the audience you’re trying to reach. I’m not suggesting you curse in order to get teens to your fan page, but the study shows that the followers of a person tend to use the same frequency of word categories as they person they follow.

Second, is the “you” factor. Take a look at your recent status updates. How many times did you write “you” instead of “I” or “we?” Make it about your customers and they’ll be more likely to stick around.

Finally, positive versus negative. If your goal is to have more comments on your page, then controversy and negative updates will do the trick. If, however, you’re more concerned with the number of people who “like” your page, then happy and peppy is the way to start every day.

New Study Says Hispanics are the Ideal Online Consumer

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 01:24 PM PST

Have you ever thought about having your English website available in Spanish as well? You might want to consider it after you look at these stats from a new ComScore study.

The study was commissioned by Terra, a global, digital media company and bilingual content producer and was administered to 2,300 Hispanic adults (13 and over) living in the United States.

The most interesting finding was that across the board, Hispanics showed a higher participation rate in social media than their non-Hispanic counterparts.

24% compared to 18% viewed a live stream, 26% vs 16% posting ratings and reviews and 18% vs 12% purchased a product due to a recommendation. The study also found that Hispanics were more receptive to receiving updates for offline activities such as movies and restaurant deals through mobile text, Twitter or Facebook.

When it comes to advertising, 36% of Hispanics vs 24% non-Hispanics said that internet advertising has motivated them to go to a retail store and 35% said that an online movie campaign influenced their decision to see a movie.

The two biggest keys to leveraging this audience appear to be interactive technology and culturally relevant messaging.

The study found the Hispanic consumer to be very technology savvy and more interested in advances in video, mobile messaging and the iPad. Even more important was the sense that the advertiser was directly addressing the population through cultural messaging and ads in both Spanish and English.

Terra says there are 30 million Hispanics online right now and that number has been growing steadily, thanks in part to the rise in web-connected cell phones. I don’t know how many US websites actually cater to this population, but I’d guess that percentage wise, it’s nowhere near equal to the audience.

Why not add a little cultural diversity to your efforts this year? Invest in a consultant and a professional translation for your website (please, none of this Google-it yourself translation nonsense). Yes, it’s money and effort but with a potential additional customer pool of 30 million, it’s worth it.

The 11 Unwritten Laws of Reputation Management

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 11:00 AM PST

Over at Forbes, I’ve been moonlighting as someone that writes well enough to, well, write for Forbes.

I’m pretty “chuffed” with my latest article which shuns the trend of making 2011 predictions and instead focuses on the unwritten laws of reputation management in 2011.

Here are the first three to whet your appetite…

Law #1 – Everyone has an online reputation

We all have an online reputation to maintain. Don't believe me, go ahead and "Google Yourself"–I promise you won't go blind! Even if you don't find anything written about you, then that's still your reputation–or lack thereof. In 2011, you should make sure that what's found in Google, Facebook, Twitter et al is something you'd be equally comfortable showing your mom or your boss!

Law #2 – Your reputation is an extension of your character

It doesn't matter how hard you work on managing your reputation, it will only ever be as solid as your actual character. Tiger Woods had a reputation of being the greatest golfer–and a family man. His character revealed otherwise. As Abraham Lincoln once said,

"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

Law #3 – Every reputation has an achilles heel

While Toyota may have spent years telling us that its cars are the most reliable in the world, sticking gas pedals told a different story. In fact, even though Toyota tried to deny the increasing incidents of sticking accelerators, its customers were the ones steering the car manufacturer's reputation in another direction. Instead of denying the issue, Toyota should have been the first to recognize it! When you recognize and acknowledge your weaknesses, before your customers, you have the opportunity to craft a response before the public outcry. Do you know your reputation's weakness?

You can continue reading The 11 Unwritten Laws of Reputation Management.