LinkedIn Launches Custom Groups For Marketers

MediaPost Publications, November 18, 2009 — Expanding its monetization efforts, LinkedIn is launching a new program allowing marketers to create sponsored groups with built-out Web pages that are promoted across the professional's social network.

LinkedIn unveiled the new Custom Groups along with other advertising initiatives the company is rolling out at a breakfast event Wednesday in New York. The moves reflect the company's wider strategy to capitalize on the company's affluent audience of more than 50 million members.

Motorola Phone Focuses on Social Networks

The company hopes the new phone, called the Cliq, will reverse its plummeting cellphone sales

New York Times, September 11, 2009 — Motorola introduced the first of a new generation of smartphones Thursday that it hopes will reverse its plummeting cellphone sales. The phone, called the Cliq, is meant for young people obsessed with social networks. Instead of the traditional menu of features, the Cliq’s home screen is an ever-changing mosaic of e-mail, Twitter tweets and status updates, superimposed over photos of the people sending those messages.

The Father of Social Networking

With Facebook, 25 year-old Mark Zuckerberg, turned a dorm-room diversion into a cultural phenomenon. His next goal? To finally turn the company profitable

Newsweek, July 22, 2009 — It's the stuff of dotcom legend. Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg and a few friends hack into the university's photo ID database and create a site for students to rate and/or berate their classmates' pictures. Since Facebook's launch in 2004, it's become a cultural phenomenon that's outgrown its Ivy League origins, into middle America and started to expand into countries around the world. NEWSWEEK's Dan Lyons spoke with Zuckerberg about Facebook's rapid growth, how it's reshaped how we think about privacy and whether the site can get too big for its own good.

Will Facebook's Faster Feeds, Filters Make It the New Twitter?†

Site's Coming Changes Can Be Beneficial to Marketers if They Take Active Role in Keeping Their Pages Fresh

Advertising Age, March 9, 2009 — For the last several months, social-media pundits have busied themselves debating whether Twitter was the new Facebook. But last week Mark Zuckerberg & Co. hoped to change that dialogue, launching a pair of modifications that had people asking if Facebook was the new Twitter.

Next Big Thing

Hub, January 12, 2009 — Will the Great Recession bring out the best and brightest? A roundtable discussion featuring Michael Mendenhall of Hewlett-Packard, Patia McGrath of General Electric, John Fish of AstraZeneca and Patrick Meyer of Now Inc.

The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World†

Consumers are flocking to blogs, social-networking sites and virtual worlds. And they are leaving a lot of marketers behind.

Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2008 — For marketers, Web 2.0 offers a remarkable new opportunity to engage consumers.

If only they knew how to do it.

That's where this article aims to help. We interviewed more than 30 executives and managers in both large and small organizations that are at the forefront of experimenting with Web 2.0 tools. From those conversations and further research, we identified a set of emerging principles for marketing.

Messaging Behaviors, Preferences, and Personas

KenRadio, November 14, 2008 — 8% of those who are over the age of 65 use SMS, and 4% subscribe to social networks. Another surprising data point is that 42% of teens prefer to communicate via SMS, yet 62% prefer to receive promotions via email vs. only 1% via SMS. The new study by ExactTarget confirms that there are marked differences between age groups not only in the usage of media, but also their acceptance of and attitudes towards each type and using multiple forms of media concurrently.

Virgin Atlantic Poked by 'Facebook 13' Kerfuffle†

Posts on Social Network Shows Dangers of Public Oversharing

Advertising Age, November 3, 2008 — Having sacked a baker's dozen of its cabin crew for making disparaging remarks about everything from customers — "chavs" — to company jets, Virgin Atlantic is now dealing with a bit of user-generated criticism.

The saga of the "Facebook 13" began Friday, when the company said it had fired a bunch of employees who used one of the massively popular social network's groups for the purposes of deriding passengers, for questioning the jets' cleanliness and, most disturbing, for making the claim that its planes needed several engine replacements a year.

Forrester: Social Web Now Mainstream†

Brandweek, October 24, 2008 — U.S. consumers are flocking to use social networks and other participatory venues to the extent that the activity is now mainstream, according to Forrester Research.

The company's polling indicates 2008 has marked significant growth for social media, with a decided majority of users now taking part.

"The novelty of today's social technologies will eventually wear off, and consumer adoption will plateau as all new media eventually do," Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff writes. "But consumers will expect marketers to continue the relationship they've formed over time and still listen to what they have to say."

LinkedIn Debuts B2B Network

Mediaweek, October 23, 2008 — Seeking new revenue streams, professional-focused social network LinkedIn today is expected to debut a network catering to business-to-business market researchers.

To date, the LinkedIn Research Network has already partnered with six market research firms--including Phoenix Marketing International and OTX--to conduct targeted B2B primary research among its network of some 30 million professionals worldwide.