SociableSport

X Factor Result Sparks Huge Surge In Social Media Activity

Less than an hour after the shock result in this week's X Factor, public outrage has manifested itself in a massive surge of Twitter and Facebook activity.

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Twitscoop, the Twitter traffic analysis tool, records so many X Factor-related trends that they could almost be used to string a sentence together (pic1).

A number of Facebook groups have also been set up, encouraging members to 'boycott X Factor', with one apparently growing at around 20 members every 1second (pic2).

But this activity was not going to be sustainable, as many users register their disgust in one or two quick acts like writing a tweet or joining a Facebook group. 45minutes later the surge in Twitter traffic has subsided but the trending topics remain. The public consciousness has flowed together in a mass of anger and frustration, and now it is dissipating (pic3).

However, we would do well to remember that 12 months ago Laura White's exit from the show was met with fierce oposition, with 50,000 complaints sent to OFCOM - the broadcast regulatory body - demanding she be reinstated on the back of speculation votes weren't counted correctly. Initially, it seems the public are less sceptical about the voting system with tonight's result and more dismayed with Simon Cowell's decision not to save Lucie Jones but the show has never been shy of controversy and Cowell himself is no stranger to public shows of disagreement.

At the last count, the 'Boycott X Factor' Facebook group has 5,000 members.

Filed under: facebook simon cowell social media twitter x factor

Posted 4 months ago

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What's More Valuable? Data to Improve Ad Serving, or Ad Space Itself?

If a social network doesn't carry ad space, will this stop it from making money?

From the article below, it appears that WPP Cheif Executive Sir Martin Sorrell believes so. I'm not so sure.

With every Tweet, a new piece of data is born - data about the Tweeter. The more Tweets there are, the more data there is. If I listen to what you have to say without interrupting your flow and trying to turn your attention to something else, I can start to build a picture of the type of person you are. The more I listen and the more you say, the more accurate that picture becomes.

A Facebook profile page is a rich mine of information about an individual's personality, and Facebook already use the information you input here to help serve you more relevant ads. This service is still at a fledgling stage and looks backwards rather than forwards - for example, I could say in my profile that I'm "interested in meeting new people" and I'll be inundated with dating ads, despite the fact my page clearly states I'm in a longterm relationship with a very attractive girl already! What could be more useful is serving ads about travelling the world, or exploring new cultures. All in all, there's lots of room for improvement here.

How can Twitter help? It's a bit late to be serving ads in the sense that YouTube or MySpace do around their video content (note: this type of advertising is always interruptive, it's just that some ads are more understanding than others), but there is something that Twitter can sell if not ad space: the data. Data that can improve the way that advertisers serve ads in the traditional digital spaces, but also improve the way advertisers craft media campaigns.

It's about understanding the user and listening to what they have to say. There's lots of chatter about brands having to act like people and so on - listening and responding in conversation rather than shouting at people as a huge, faceless nonentity - and for good reason. The more you know about how people talk to each other, the easier you can sell. Twitter is designed to help people share stuff. As such, it is a bank of sales tools.

What's more valuable - data to improve ad serving or the ad space itself? I guess that depends on how deep your pockets are but I know that if I was a Marketing Director, I'd be focusing on efficiency over scale and understanding as much as I can about my audience would be the first step.

All Twitter have to do is figure out a way to speak media language and turn their wealth of data into... well... wealth.

I smell a start-up idea!

Sorrell sees mixed prospects for social nets

LONDON: Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have less potential to generate ad revenues than sites such as YouTube and MySpace, which will benefit from their focus on online video, says Sir Martin Sorrell, ceo of WPP Group.

According to Sorrell, one of WPP's main short-to-medium term objectives is to boost the share of its revenues derived from digital media to 33%, compared with the current level of 25%.

He also argued that the various forms of web-based video currently being established are "probably the most revolutionary and most significant of the new media developments."

Indeed, he predicted that the influence of this form of content could come to "dwarf what we saw from the personal computer and what we saw from mobile in terms of its impact on the media."

Given this, it appears that "video-driven sites" like YouTube and MySpace will have a "greater opportunity for developing advertising revenues" than many of their online counterparts.

By contrast, "sites like Facebook and Twitter are more social networking sites, where the advertising revenue potential is more limited and more restricted" due to their differing models.

Indeed, Sorrell added, "we've seen cases, even in the case of Facebook, where Mark Zuckerberg – who must be the person on the planet who knows most about social networking – has made one or two mistakes by trying to commercialise too much."

When discussing Twitter, the rapidly-growing microblogging service, the chief executive of WPP credited the site with producing "a lot of noise", but also wondered "where is the cashflow?"

Overall, the websites at the heart of Web 2.0 are "all very sexy stuff, but there is a lot of sorting out to be done and a lot of volatility and a lot will not be here in the future," he added.

With regard to newspapers, Sorrell said the "online media model will only be successful if it's a mixture of advertising revenues and subscription revenues."

As such, "looking for content that consumers are willing to pay for" will be essential if news titles are ultimately going to succeed on the web.

Sorrell also said that WPP will be looking to target the "third sector" of "Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and central and eastern European regions" as it seeks to bolster its revenues.

He added that the rise of nations like Brazil, Russia, India and China should be seen as "an unstoppable, irreversible trend in political, economic and social power."

Moreover, Sorrell predicted that "the initial signs of recovery will not come from the West, they will come from the East; they will come from China."

The Chinese ad market "did flip up quite considerably in April", meaning WPP saw a 25% increase in its "media business" in the country in the fourth month of this year, its ceo added.

Data sourced from The Australian; additional content by WARC staff, 23 June 2009