Twitter Records Fastest Growth in the UK

According to the latest figures released by Internet statistics firm Hitwise, Twitter has recorded a phenomenal growth in the UK. The micro-blogging site has popularized amongst the UK masses to such an extent that it attracted traffic 22-fold in just a year, being the fastest amongst all other sites.

With an increasing number of celebrities and top-notch personalities becoming members of Twitter since the last year, the site has gained tremendous media exposure. This exposure has helped it amass a number of new users and jump from its 969th position in 2008 to 38th in the UK today for generating traffic. In terms of popularity, Twitter grabbed the 5th position, as against 84th last year.

Fans Pay Tribute To Michael Jackson Through Social Media

In what can be termed as one of the greatest shocks of all time, Michael Jackson (popularly known as the ‘King of Pop’) passed away leaving behind millions of fans mourning over his death. The legend, who stepped into the music industry at a tender age of 11, went on to become probably the greatest ever pop-star in the world. His albums ‘Thriller’, ‘Bad’ and ‘Dangerous’ are considered as the world’s best-selling records even today.

The news of Michael Jackson’s death spread like fire in the social media world as well. Popular site Wikipedia was updated immediately with entire details, millions of Twitter users ‘tweeted’ all through the day to share their feelings and love, and users flocked over YouTube to post comments on his music videos. Also, you will find separate pages on Facebook, with thousands of fans paying tribute to their favourite star, making it the biggest tribute ever on Facebook.

MySpace and Vodafone Team Up To Create Music Sensation

Collaboration is the need of the hour to grow and sustain, and MySpace is doing exactly that. The social networking site has partnered with telecom major Vodafone to launch The Music Studio – an eight month campaign targeted towards music aficionados. The strategic partnership is a result of Vodafone’s ambition to strengthen its connection with the music industry and MySpace’s aim to enhance the experience of its users.

Accessible in the UK, Germany and Spain, The Music Studio will allow users to remix the latest tracks, get insights from music experts, and obtain tips and tricks to increase their band’s profile.

Caution: Start Blogging Before Its Too Late

The concept of blogging emerged several years back. Earlier, people were skeptical about its benefits or maybe lethargic to write posts and considered it as a waste of time. Web 2.0 was at its incubation stage and writing articles was more on a personal level basis, which means existence was largely in form of personal blogs. However, since the past few years, blogging has proved its potential and gained a strategic position in the social media world. They are now considered as an efficient tool to create a strong brand both individually and commercially.

Blogs that have been established long back are at an advantage today. The reason why I say so is because

MySpace Axing Employees: Will That Help?

News about MySpace pruning a third of its workforce has spread like fire over the Web. The News Corp. owned social networking site is handing over pink slips to 400 people in a bid to restructure the company and revive innovation. The growing competition from Facebook and other rivals clearly seems to be getting on MySpace – the once leading social networking site in US – now dethroned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook.

MySpace realized that its staffing levels were bloated, which hindered its ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented firm, according to MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta. The company is aiming at returning to an environment of innovation that is centered on its user and product.

LinkedIn Introduces New Search Feature for Recruiters

Professional networking site LinkedIn has rolled out a new and improved search for recruiters to simplify their task of finding passive candidates. The advanced LinkedIn Recruiter feature will allow employers refine their search as per the candidate’s exact details like geography, expertise, education and industry background.

According to Esteban Kozak, Senior Product Manager at LinkedIn, recruiters fully recognize the value of passive candidates, with 60% saying they get better hires when hiring passive talent. They also realize what a great source of passive talent LinkedIn represents, with 93% stating LinkedIn as the most successful hiring site.

Concerns Over Army Using Social Networking Sites

We all know how social networking has transformed our lives since the past few years. People across the world use it to share updates, pictures, videos and personal information with their friends and family. However, like every coin has two sides, social networking has a major drawback of leaking confidential information if not used carefully. Concerned about this issue, the Indian Army recently handed over a circular asking its personnel to beware from uploading such content on social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook.

To avoid putting the national security in danger, the Army has asked all the units across the country to remove work-related information such as place of posting, ranks, etc. from their profiles, if already posted. According to the Army’s estimation, about 35,000 of its total 1.1 million soldiers are active internet users.

What’s In a Name? Now Facebook Has The Answer

It was not long back when Facebook announced its latest feature of allowing users to have their personalized URLs with a username of their choice. The move has been an influencing one for the users so far, as the social networking giant nearly recoded 6 million usernames in the first two days itself.

The counting has exceeded 5.75 million already and is continuing to grow, as Facebook members are busy claiming their personalized Internet address. A spokesman for the company said that over 500,000 and 3 million users registered in the first 15 minutes and 12 hours respectively.

Using Social Media as an Extension of Traditional Advertising

The success of a brand depends a lot on how well people familiarize with it. An average consumer comes across hundreds of advertisements each day through television, radio, hoardings, newspapers and magazines, internet, text messages, etc. However, the ones that appeal his needs, interests, imagination, thinking, behavior, and/or lifestyle tend to win over others when it comes to brand recall. At the end of the day, an individual remembers only few advertisements out of the major chunk that he comes across on that particular day.

There are several businesses that consider social media as an expense rather than an investment. Conventional firms often stick to the traditional advertising vehicles and are reluctant to use social media tools, which is not a desirable move today. No doubt traditional mediums are important, but the growing significance of social media just cannot be ignored.

Social Networking Sites – Virtual Real Estates

The global recession has created problems for a number of people to acquire a land- property or a home.  In fact land properties across the world are experiencing inflated rates, adding to the buyers’ woes. However, social networking sites are inviting worldwide users to invest in their site and find a virtual property to live in. Here, the investment is not in terms of money, but time. No wonder there is such an explosion in the usage of social networking sites since the last couple of years or so.

Finding a virtual property (i.e. becoming a member of a social networking site) is not a difficult task. There are plenty of options available for the users such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut, Friendster, Twitter, LinkedIn, amongst host of others. Quite amazingly, most of these online properties are competing amongst themselves to attract more number of users, and eventually more number of advertisers.