Consumers do want relationships
The social networking audience in the US has reached critical mass. eMarketer estimates that 57.5% of all US Internet users, or 127 million people, will use a social network at least once a month in 2010. By 2014, nearly two-thirds of Internet users will be on board.
Marketers have been chasing this audience for several years, but the question remains: Do consumers notice, or care?
“Those who still think that social network users are too busy engaging with friends to notice marketers must change their viewpoint,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report “Brand Interactions on Social Networks.” “Brand interactions are real, valuable and growing. “
According to a February 2010 survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey, a market research firm, 33% of Facebook users have become fans of brands on the network.
Another survey, by Edison Research, found that 16% of social network users had friended brands there. And half (51%) had done so on Twitter.
Coupons remain a leading driver of brand interactions in social networks. Learning about sales and new products is also a strong motivator for people to interact with companies in social media. Beyond the tangibles, such as coupons, consumers do gain positive feelings about a brand as a result of their interactions.
Still, social networks are not seen as primary research sources when consumers are looking to buy. Although people are very inclined to take advice from friends and family about products they are interested in, they are not nearly as likely to seek out their social network friends when they are researching online.
According to a study by PowerReviews and the e-tailing group, only 3% of online buyers said they sought recommendations from social network friends first, compared with 57% who started with search engines. [Read more - eMarketer]
Networking tools and privacy
Women who are core social network users expect a lot, according to “The Power of Social Networking For Women Research Study” from female-oriented social networking site ShesConnected. Participants in the survey were recruited through several social networks and were encouraged to share it with friends.
ShesConnected respondents were heavy users of social networks: 59% reported visiting such sites multiple times per day, with a further 14% logging on daily.
Unsurprisingly, Facebook was the most popular social network among these users, with 83% belonging to the site. Nearly three-quarters (73%) were members of LinkedIn and 55% were on Twitter, while just 41% belonged to MySpace. Almost one-half of respondents (48%) reported belonging to four or more social networks—the most common response.
Professional networking and staying up-to-date with friends were the most compelling reasons to visit social networks, according to the respondents. Substantial majorities also considered researching products and services (79%) and finding deals and discounts (64%) important.
Despite their enthusiasm for joining, female social network users are concerned about privacy issues. Fully 93% of respondents said control over privacy settings was “very important,” and another 6% rated it “somewhat important.” The ability to block specific users from contacting them, presumably also for privacy reasons, mattered to 96% of users.
These concerns spill over into the marketing side of social media. While the vast majority of respondents were fine with social networks displaying advertising, the prospect of the sites selling data to advertisers was another story. More than four in 10 respondents said they would not be comfortable with the idea, and nearly as many—36%—said they would refuse to use a site that sold their data.
“Advertisers should strive for engaging and useful communications on the site so that it is viewed as an enhancement to the community rather than a painful requirement,” noted the ShesConnected report.
While users understand the need for revenues, networking, self-promotion, keeping in touch and privacy remain their top priority. [FierceMobileContent]
Mapping the social graph.
Let’s get the bad news out of the way.
As a result of the poor economy and various difficulties at MySpace, paid advertising on online social networks in the US is expected to fall 3% in 2009.
But the drop will be short-lived. eMarketer projects that US marketers will increase their social network ad spending 13.2% in 2010, to $1.3 billion.
“The expected rebound in spending will come as more companies focus on creating and implementing an overall social marketing strategy,” says Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Social Network Ad Spending: A Brighter Outlook Next Year. “And it is a clear indication that the experimental phase of social network marketing is finally drawing to an end.”
2009 is turning into a year of major shifts in the social network business.
“Facebook, once a distant second to MySpace, has outperformed its rival in nearly every measure of usage—and is on track to surpass MySpace in ad spending by 2011,” says Ms. Williamson.
US spending at MySpace is expected to fall 15% in 2009, to $495 million, while US spending at Facebook is projected to rise 9%, to $230 million. Consequently, MySpace’s share of US spending is projected to fall to 43.4% in 2009, while Facebook and other social network venues will increase their share.
While the US accounts for the majority of ad spending on MySpace and Facebook, non-US spending is growing rapidly at Facebook. eMarketer estimates that marketers will spend a total of $520 million to advertise on MySpace worldwide in 2009, down 14% from 2008. Worldwide spending on Facebook, by contrast, is expected to grow 20%, to $300 million, in 2009.
“Regardless of which site is in the lead, 2009 is the year of building social marketing strategy,” says Ms. Williamson. “2010 and beyond will see increased activity and deployments.”
Social network users create a gigantic amount of data about themselves—their friend networks, likes and dislikes, content-sharing activities and more.
“Harnessing this information to deliver advertising not only within social networks, but on other sites a consumer may visit, is a marketer’s dream come true,” says Ms. Williamson. [eMarketer]
By Lynnette Luna
Social networking is the top area of interest among mobile web users, according to mobile software applications and infrastructure provider Openwave Systems. Facebook and MySpace top search terms on both Google and Yahoo! OneSearch.
Per mobile web usage trends derived from an anonymous sample of customer logs from a Tier-1 North American operator and processed through its Openwave Mobile Analytics service, the firm notes that in terms of average hits per session, MySpace leads Facebook by nearly 46 percent, suggesting MySpace could become the preferred choice of mobile communications for a segment of the operator subscriber base and could even displace some email solutions.
Openwave also found that mobile advertising marketplace AdMob serves nearly seven times more ads than its nearest competitor. But it also has a lower click-through rate compared with rivals Buzzcity and Microsoft. Openwave said that AdMob's lower click-through numbers could be the result of generic ads that fail to offer targeted relevance to the subscriber. [FierceWireless]
MyAdSpace?
These days, wherever and whenever marketers gather, social networking is a hot topic. eMarketer estimates that marketers spent $2 billion to advertise on social network Websites worldwide in 2008.
And this year worldwide ad spending is projected to increase 17%, to $2.35 billion. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
A double-digit rise in spending is certainly good news at a time when forecasters are shrinking their worldwide online ad spending projections to the low single digits,” says Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Social Networking Worldwide: Ad Spending and Usage. “But the expected growth in social network spending in 2009 is half of what eMarketer had projected it would be in our previous forecast in December 2007.”
The slowing revenue growth does not necessarily spell doom and gloom for the social network business, however.
“In markets such as China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, some social networks have built growing revenue streams from selling virtual items to members,” says Ms. Williamson, “and from fees that members pay to play games or access premium content and services.” Another factor cannot be overlooked.
“Social network usage is growing substantially in many world regions, in several cases surpassing the usage levels seen in the US,” says Ms. Williamson.
Across nine countries studied by Nielsen Online, social networking and blogging accounted for 9% of all time spent online.
According to comScore Media Metrix, in Europe, 75% of Internet users ages 15 and older visited a social network site in December 2008, up from 61% one year earlier.
More than 210 million people in Europe visited a social network site during the month.Though there are many activities that people can engage in on social network sites—games, applications, listening to music—the key benefit is that they are an easy way to stay in touch and share information with friends and acquaintances.
“Socializing online is simply not going away,” says Ms. Williamson, “in any part of the world.” [eMarketer]
Narrow topical appeal draws highly engaged users
As MySpace and Facebook develop their sites for mass appeal, some social networks are banking on a focused approach. For example, Children with Diabetes is a Johnson & Johnson-owned ad-supported social network for families who have children with diabetes.
Nearly one-half of the site’s traffic comes from search, according to Joseph Natale, vice president at Children with Diabetes.
“We have 32,000 pages of content optimized with words like ‘children,’ ‘diabetes’ and ‘juvenile diabetes,’” Mr. Natale told eMarketer in an interview. “Our organic search is strong. That’s really helped us since more people are online seeking healthcare information and search is where they start.”
The approach makes sense, since many consumers head online for health information, according to a 2008 study by Prospectiv. Online communities were mentioned by only 5% of respondents, while 43% said they used sites focused on specific ailments. By forming an online community that focuses on a specific ailment, the site hopes to broaden its appeal—within its area of concentration.
Read more - eMarketer
Social media marketing might be more effective than just putting ads on social networks.
More than four out of 10 women in their 40s surveyed in October by SheSpeaks had a social networking profile. And over 70% of women with children ages 13 to 17 had talked about products on social networks, compared with 62% of all responding women.
“40-somethings are active users and members of online social networks,” said Aliza Freud, CEO of SheSpeaks, in a statement. “These women have started to use the Web and social networks in ways that mirror the rest of their lives—from finding out about a product to shopping or monitoring their children’s activities.”
Of all women surveyed by SheSpeaks (not just 40-somethings), 46% used social networks.
The researchers suggested that social media marketing—not just ads on social networks—could be especially effective among women for spreading word-of-mouth, since 26% of respondents actively ignored most online ads and 20% were annoyed by ads on social networking sites.
Female Internet users ages 45 to 54 are a larger audience than male Internet users of the same age, according to comScore Media Metrix. There are also far more female Internet users ages 45 to 54 than there are ages 55 to 64. [eMarketer]
Retailers join consumers in the online conversation.
Consumers' use of social media is altering the way they make purchase decisions. To stay relevant, retailers must determine how to incorporate social media, such as social networks and blogs, into their marketing strategies.
Generation Y (those born after 1979) online buyers are more immersed in online and mobile activities than any other generation, according to 2008 research from shopping comparison site PriceGrabber. Some 85% of Gen Y respondents said they participated in social networking, and 57% reported involvement with blogs.
To reach this demographic segment, Web retailers are marketing to them on their own turf. Data from an August 2008 survey of Web merchants sponsored by Internet Retailer found that, of the 39.3% of retail respondents that use social networks, 32% have a page on Facebook, 27% on MySpace and 26% on YouTube.
One way that consumers use social media is to share their customer care experiences with companies and brands. A 2008 study conducted by the Society for New Communications Research for Nuance Communications found nearly three-quarters of respondents choose retailers and products based on others' customer care experiences shared online.
The Nuance study identified online rating systems, discussion forums and blogs as the forms of social media consumers believe are the most valuable sources of information. Trusted sources also included family and friends, word-of-mouth and Consumer Reports. [eMarketer]
Retailers join consumers in the online conversation.
Consumers' use of social media is altering the way they make purchase decisions. To stay
relevant, retailers must determine how to incorporate social media, such as social networks and blogs, into their marketing strategies.
Generation Y (those born after 1979) online buyers are more immersed in online and mobile activities than any other generation, according to 2008 research from shopping comparison site PriceGrabber. Some 85% of Gen Y respondents said they participated in social networking, and 57% reported involvement with blogs.
To reach this demographic segment, Web retailers are marketing to them on their own turf. Data from an August 2008 survey of Web merchants sponsored by Internet Retailer found that, of the 39.3% of retail respondents that use social networks, 32% have a page on Facebook, 27% on MySpace and 26% on YouTube.
One way that consumers use social media is to share their customer care experiences with companies and brands. A 2008 study conducted by the Society for New Communications Research for Nuance Communications found nearly three-quarters of respondents choose retailers and products based on others' customer care experiences shared online.
Read more - eMarketer
MySpace and Facebook connect users to other users. Is that enough?
Facebook talks a lot about the "social graph." It is basically the network of connections between people, which changes and is amplified based on contributions that various people make to the network.
The social graph matters to marketers because knowing how social graphs work can makes ads and campaigns more effective, according to Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer.
"By understanding the connections between people and how information spreads in a social network," Ms. Williamson said, "marketers can tweak their messages to make viral spreading quicker/easier/faster."
As Sean Ammirati of mSpoke noted on ReadWriteWeb this spring, our real social graph is far more complex than what is recorded on today's social networks, and includes many colleagues, parents, extended family and neighbors.
Because online social networks do not capture the real social graph, tapping into those extended, real-world connections are important for marketers.
Even among Internet-using college students in the US—the heaviest social networks users—talking to friends and family still ranks highly as a way to learn about new products. An August 2008 study by Harris Interactive for Alloy Media + Marketing found that more than six out of 10 college students surveyed talked to friends to get the scoop on new products, and 38% talked to family.
Social media's popularity will fill in some of the blanks in the social graph.
Profiles are generally expected to become portable so that consumers need only create one profile and use it in many places on the Web, making social networking a key online activity regardless of the performances of individual community sites such as MySpace or Facebook.
Agencies and brands from all verticals rely on eMarketer Total Access for analysis and data. Daily articles are just the tip of the iceberg. Find out what you are missing. Learn more about Total Access today. [eMarketer]
Not everyone is pokable.
More than one-half of adults surveyed in 17 countries do not know what social networking is, according to Synovate. The company said it asked over 13,000 consumers in Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the US if they were familiar with social networking.
Although such aggregate findings are useful in a directional sense (many consumers worldwide have yet to hear about social networking), Synovate noted differences in individual countries and among demographic segments. For instance, awareness was higher among younger users.
As for membership, 26% of respondents belonged to social networking sites. Membership was highest in the Netherlands, at 49%; UAE, at 46%; Canada, at 44%; and the US, at 40%.
Synovate also asked adult consumers if they were losing interest in online social networking. Overall, 36% of social network users said yes, led by those in Japan (55%), Slovakia (48%), Canada (47%), Poland and the US (45% each). Social networkers in Indonesia and France were the least likely to be losing interest, at only 18% and 21%, respectively.
Read more - eMarketer
Online social networking is huge and growing strongly, but what happens when all those virtual friends hit the road? Increasingly, they will be able to keep in touch via mobile versions of their favorite social networks, running on their cellular phones. ABI Research forecasts that in 2013, more than 140 million subscribers will share “anytime, anywhere” experiences this way, and they will generate subscription revenues in excess of $410 million.
“Subscriber numbers for mobile social networking will climb at a relatively modest rate for the next three or four years, but will then start to accelerate sharply,” says research director Michael Wolf. “That uptick is based on assumed acceptance levels in the giant emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Those countries are wildcards, very difficult to estimate, so we are quite conservative in our forecasts.”
Some mobile versions of social networks will follow the same model common to today’s Internet-based groups such as MySpace and Facebook: free browser-based access. Such models pose a problem for mobile operators by limiting their slice of the revenue to a charge for data traffic. “The ideal scenario for the mobile operator includes a recurring revenue stream: a subscriber paying $1.99 or $2.99 a month to have this application on their handset,” says Wolf.
Beyond the relatively modest subscription revenues that mobile social networking will generate, there will also be significant opportunities in mobile advertising as well as in mobile content sales. A recent end-user survey conducted by ABI Research showed that mobile users of social networks are likely to consume two or three times as much digital mobile content (pictures, music, videos and games) than their “asocial” peers.
That would suggest a golden marketing and advertising opportunity yet, says Wolf, that isn’t happening: “They are not offering the right kinds of products for these users. The advertising isn’t that sophisticated yet.” His conclusion? “Social networking applications have to be uniquely mobile and not reliant entirely on advertising-based revenues, at least not initially.” [ABI Research]
Google menduduki peringkat sebagai situs yang paling banyak dikunjungi, diikuti oleh beragam jaringan sosial populer
Brasil, Meksiko dan Venezuela memimpin Amerika Latin dalam mengadopsi Web seluler menurut laporan terbaru "Perkembangan Web Seluler" yang dikeluarkan oleh Opera Software hari ini. Laporan tersebut juga menyebutkan 10 Situs Teratas yang paling populer menurut para pengunjung di setiap negara-negara dengan penggunaan Web seluler teratas di Amerika Latin.
Google menduduki peringkat atas di hampir semua negara tersebut, diikuti oleh beberapa beberapa situs jaringan sosial paling populer. Laporan "Perkembangan Web Seluler" Opera, dipublikasikan setiap bulan, tersedia untuk umum di http://www.opera.com/mobile_report/ dalam format HTML maupun PDF (hanya Bahasa Inggris).
Selain itu, statistik dari bulan Juli mengungkapkan bahwa Web seluler terus menyebar ke seluruh dunia. Jumlah orang yang menggunakan Opera Mini, browser Web seluler paling populer di dunia dengan hampir 16 juta pengunjung setiap bulannya, tumbuh hampir 10% tiap bulan, sementara halaman yang dilihat tumbuh hampir 16% dalam periode yang sama. "Kami senang melihat pertumbuhan besar tersebut dan minat mengakses Web dari ponsel secara global," cetus Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera.
"Namun langkah adopsi di Amerika Latin meningkat dengan cepat. Alasan di balik pertumbuhan ini ada dua macam. Pertama, konsumen ingin membeli paket akses data karena penghematan biaya sehubungan dengan kompresi data Opera Mini. Mereka dapat menjelajah lebih lama. Kedua, 80% ponsel di Amerika Latin dapat mendukung browser Web ringan. Memberikan pengalaman Web yang lebih baik kepada para konsumen untuk membantu mendorong minat dan adopsi Web seluler.
Para operator di Amerika Latin sekarang menjalankan strategi Web seluler yang ambisius karena mereka menyadari keuntungan bisnis dan bertambahnya pendapatan dari menawarkan penjelajahan Web penuh kepada para pelanggan mereka.
Amerika Latin
- Brasil menduduki peringkat pertama dalam penggunaan Web seluler di Amerika Latin, diikuti oleh Meksiko, Venezuela dan Argentina.
- Orkut, metroFLOG dan hi5 adalah situs jaringan sosial paling umum di Amerika Latin, sedangkan Facebook merupakan situs paling populer keempat di Venezuela.
- Domain lokal jarang sekali masuk dalam peringkat 10 teratas. Brasil mengalahkan semua negara Amerika Latin dengan dua domain dalam 10 teratas tersebut, sementara hampir semua negara lainnya mempunyai satu atau tidak ada domain lokal. Pilih topik utama
Global - Penggunaan Web seluler terus tumbuh dalam berbagai kategori signifikan: pengguna, halaman yang dilihat dan lalu lintas data.
- Lebih dari 15,8 juta orang telah menggunakan Opera Mini di bulan Juli, dengan peningkatan 9,4% dari bulan Juni.
- 15,8 juta orang tersebut melihat 3,7 milyar halaman di bulan Juli, dengan rata-rata 236 halaman untuk setiap orang. Sejak bulan Juni, halaman yang dilihat naik hingga 15,9%. - Lalu lintas data tumbuh seiring peningkatan halaman yang dilihat.
Para pengguna Opera Mini menghasilkan 53,8 milyar MB data untuk berbagai operator di seluruh dunia, yang merupakan peningkatan 15,2% dari bulan terakhir. Karena data ini telah dikompresi dengan rata-rata sebesar 90%, berarti para pengguna Opera Mini melihat lebih dari 538 juta MB data di bulan Juli.
Indonesia Sejumlah situs sosial muncul dalam daftar 10 peringkat teratas di Indonesia. Dalam beberapa bulan,yang paling banyak meningkat adalah peperonity.com, yang berada di nomor 10 pada bulan Mei, nomor 8 di bulan Juni, dan saat ini menduduki nomor 5.
10 Situs Teratas di Indonesia (# pengguna berbeda)1) friendster.com
2) google.com
3) greystripe.com (baru)
4) yahoo.com (naik dari posisi 5)
5) peperonity.com (naik dari posisi 8)
6) wikipedia.org (naik dari posisi 9)
7) digg.com (baru)
8) mig33.com (baru)
9) wapamp.com (baru)
10) ebuddy.com (baru)
Sebagai browser Web paling populer sedunia untuk ponsel, Opera Mini menyediakan pengalaman Web yang elegan, cepat dan lengkap. Beberapa browser Web lainnya hanya mampu bekerja pada 20 sampai 30 model ponsel, namun Opera Mini berjalan pada lebih dari 800 macam handset, yang membuatnya siap untuk menjangkau konsumen terbanyak di seluruh dunia. Hampir setiap ponsel yang dilengkapi Java dapat menjalankan Opera Mini. Benar-benar gratis untuk siapa saja yang mendownload dan menggunakannya. Opera Mini tersedia pada http://www.operamini.com/.
Data dalam laporan ini berdasarkan pada statistik agregat dan anonim dari berbagai server Opera Mini. Semua persentase berdasarkan cuplikan dari 100 situs Teratas untuk setiap wilayah. Selain memberikan cuplikan tren penjelajahan di seluruh dunia, laporan "Perkembangan Web Seluler" Opera juga menyoroti tren penjelajahan di sepuluh negara tempat Opera Mini paling populer: Amerika Serikat, Rusia, Cina, Indonesia, India, Kerajaan Inggris, Jerman, Polandia, Afrika Selatan dan Ukraina.
Networking through online communities in the consumer world has become a huge success, and now enterprises are beginning to embrace this form of technology. To enable such communication in a business environment, white label social networking vendors provide platforms that can be rebranded to meet the requirements of enterprises. ABI Research forecasts indicate that this market will be worth nearly $1.3 billion in 2013.
Potentially linking employees, customers, and other stakeholders, enterprise social networking is most commonly seen as an aid to marketing, CRM, and general information distribution.
“Social networking within and around the enterprise can deliver a number of benefits to a company, though some may be difficult to quantify,” says industry analyst Zippy Aima. “For example, many networks can be searched by keyword, offering fast and easy access to company-wide pools of expertise. One vendor of these solutions targets only trade show and conference organizers. Their networks allow people attending the event to save time by learning who else is going, and setting up meetings in advance.”
Setting up and running a social network is a specialized task, however, and can be costly. So most white label social networking vendors offer the technology through an SaaS (Software as a Service) model, based on a subscription fee, which can be fairly economical for the customer. Client companies can add their own branding, look and feel, but have no other responsibilities or burdens.
“White label enterprise social networking is a very young market, but a busy one,” notes Aima. “It is flooded with vendors, but most of them are only a few years old and still see annual revenues below $5 million. Despite this market’s promise, they must overcome several challenges, including lack of customer education, competition from open standards, budget constraints, and the need for feature-rich applications.”
While the potential market for white label enterprise social networking is worldwide, the majority of vendors today — including HiveLive, Intridea, KickApps, Drupal, Cisco, and Mzinga — are based in North America. “The White Label Social Networking Market” discusses the opportunities in this market, and the challenges facing vendors entering it. It identifies the parameters that enterprises use when choosing a white label social network, and examines the pricing models of a number of vendors. It forecasts revenue grow through 2013. [ABI Research]
Loopt, a revolutionary social-mapping and communication service, announced today that the location- based service is now available for free to BlackBerry users on the Sprint, Alltel, T-Mobile and AT&T networks. BlackBerry users can now share their location information with friends across multiple devices and carrier networks.
According to a recent report from IDC, BlackBerry handsets lead the industry in smartphone sales with 44.5% of the market, largely due to the new consumer-friendly phones they now offer like the Curve and Pearl.
"Smartphones have become increasingly popular with young consumers and we are confident that users will be delighted with the Loopt user experience on the Blackberry," said Sam Altman, CEO of Loopt. "Loopt continues to deliver on the promise of a truly interoperable and accessible location-based service available across multiple carriers and devices."
Loopt shows users where friends are located and what they are doing via detailed, interactive maps on their mobile phones. Loopt helps friends connect on the go and navigate their social lives by orienting them to people, places and events. Users can also share location updates, geo-tagged photos and comments with friends in their mobile address book or on online social networks, communities and blogs.
Loopt was designed with user privacy at its core and offers a variety of effective and intuitive privacy controls. For more information about Loopt or to download the Loopt for your Blackberry please visit www.loopt.com. Loopt for Blackberry is free to download and use. However, a data plan is required and standard data and messaging charges from your carrier may apply. [FierceWireless]
Oslo, Norwegia - Laporan "Perkembangan Web Seluler" Opera Software yang dipublikasikan hari ini, mengungkapkan bahwa hampir 40% trafik jaringan sosial (social network) diakses melalui Web seluler. Hal ini menunjukkan adanya pertumbuhan yang sangat pesat pada jumlah konsumen yang mengakses Web dari perangkat seluler mereka dan memberikan gambaran terhadap preferensi konsumen secara keseluruhan saat menjelajah dari ponsel mereka. Laporan selengkapnya tersedia di sini : http://www.opera.com/mobile_report/.
Pilih topik utama global dari laporan triwulan pertama:
- Jaringan sosial diakses hampir 41% dari traffic: Amerika Serikat, Afrika Selatan dan Indonesia memiliki lebih dari 60% traffic mereka ke jaringan sosial.
- Lebih dari 11,9 juta orang menggunakan Opera Mini pada bulan maret untuk menjelajahi 2,4 milyar halaman Web. Sampai saat ini, lebih dari 44 juta user kumulatif telah mencoba Opera Mini.
- 11,9 juta orang tersebut menggunakan lebih dari 33 juta MB traffic data untuk berbagai operator di seluruh dunia.
- Sebuah Web akan mengalahkan konten WAP: Penelusuran Full Web meliputi lebih dari 77% dari semua traffic. Konten WAP masih menghasilkan 23% dari sisa dari traffic. Persentase WAP sedikit menurun karena semakin banyak konsumen yang mengetahui bahwa Opera Mini dapat mengakses konten Web secara lengkap.
Hal pokok untuk Indonesia:- Dengan 63% dari traffic menuju ke jaringan sosial, Indonesia sebanding dengan A.S. sebagai negara nomor satu untuk jaringan sosial pada Web seluler.
10 situs teratas di Indonesia:
"Web seluler juga merupakan Web sosial," cetus Jon von Tetzchner, Chief Executive Officer, Opera Software. "Dengan jaringan sosial yang mendominasi trafik dari Opera Mini, jelas bahwa orang-orang menggunakan browser seluler mereka sebagai alat komunikasi lain pada ponsel mereka. Saya yakin dengan melihat penurunan dalam perbedaan antara berbagai jenis konten Web yang digunakan orang pada perangkat seluler mereka - ini benar-benar sebuah Web, dimana orang-orang akan memilih dan menggunakan perangkat apapun untuk dapat mengakses Web tersebut."
Sebagai Web browser pada ponsel yang paling populer di dunia, Opera Mini menyediakan cara penjelajahan Web yang elegan, cepat dan lengkap. Walaupun beberapa browser Web hanya mampu bekerja pada 20 sampai 30 model ponsel, Opera Mini dapat digunakan pada lebih dari 700 macam handset, yang membuatnya siap untuk menjangkau konsumen terbanyak di seluruh dunia. Hampir setiap ponsel yang dilengkapi Java dapat menjalankan Opera Mini. Benar-benar gratis bagi siapa saja yang indin men-download dan menggunakannya, Opera Mini tersedia di http://www.operamini.com/.
Data pada laporan ini ditulis berdasarkan statistik agregat dan anonim dari berbagai server Opera Mini. Semua persentase merupakan cuplikan dari 100 situs Teratas untuk setiap wilayah.
Selain memberikan cuplikan tren penjelajahan di seluruh dunia, pada laporan "Perkembangan Web Seluler" Opera juga menyoroti tren penjelajahan di sepuluh negara dimana Opera Mini paling populer: Amerika Serikat, Rusia, Cina, Indonesia, India, Kerajaan Inggris, Jerman, Polandia, Afrika Selatan dan Ukraina. Laporan selanjutnya mengenai informasi terbaru untuk negara-negara tersebut serta wilayah lain di seluruh dunia. /PR
Is social networking the key?
Mobile social networking stands a good chance of jumpstarting mobile Internet adoption because mobile social networking is based more on communication than content. Time and again, communication services have led the way for content and advertising to follow.
In the case of the Internet, it was e-mail and discussion boards—not Web pages—that triggered the explosion from early adoption to mainstream consumer use. SMS services drove mobile data use and they still account for the majority of mobile data revenues by carriers.
It is not surprising, therefore, that mobile carriers and mobile content providers have warmed to mobile social networking as a new opportunity to ramp mobile Internet use. In truth, they have little choice. Their attempts to convince the mass market to sign up for mobile Internet have proved moderately successful, at best.
According to February 2008 research by Informa, the global market for all current forms of paid mobile entertainment should reach $31.7 billion by 2012. Back in 2006, the same forecast optimistically predicted $42 billion by 2011.
Juniper Research published a far more bullish outlook for mobile entertainment in January 2008, projecting $64.8 billion worldwide by 2012. Earlier research by Juniper also tried to quantify the revenues associated with mobile user-generated content such as chat room services or mobile dating, predicting $5.7 billion for 2012.
Read more - eMarketer
Kiwibox, a social networking site focused on the teen market, have announced a partnership with Burst Media. Under the terms of the deal, Burst Media will serve mobile ads on the Kiwibox mobile site which will launch in the second quarter of 2008.
“This is a definitive step forward in our strategy to create and monetize a fully interactive and rewarding wireless experience for our members and their friends with content geared exclusively towards our teen audience,” said Mike Howard, vice president of sales for Kiwibox. “With teens gaining access to more affordable and sophisticated handsets, providing them with a compelling mobile experience is an important part of Kiwibox’s strategy.”
One of the main advantages that social networking sites have over other mobile sites is that they already have a lot of information about their users, which should allow them to make their ads far more relevant. Other services have to rely on the information they receive from mobile operators, which is not always available.
“Over the past eight years, Kiwibox has become an invaluable partner of Burst’s by providing us with creative advertising opportunities in one of the leading Web sites targeting teens on the Internet,” said Jarvis Coffin, chief executive officer of Burst Media. “The new mobile Kiwibox.com site deepens our relationship and allows Burst to offer advertisers a new way to reach Kiwibox’s great audience while ‘on the go’ with rich and engaging content. This is a very exciting opportunity for both companies.” [MobiAdNews]
Citing growing mobile operator support for social networking services, a new forecast issued by consulting firm Frost & Sullivan says revenue from U.S. on-deck mobile social networking services will reach $412 million in 2012.
Frost & Sullivan credits the surge to three converging trends: The popularity of Internet social networking services, increasing mobile web penetration and the emergence of mobile advertising. The firm adds the challenge at hand is creating dedicated and effective mobile advertising models that deliver targeted ads to the mobile social community, an evolution requiring close cooperation between ad solution providers, mobile social networking solution providers and mobile operators as well as subscriber willingness to share their personal data. Frost & Sullivan contends mobile ads should be immersive, arguing that displaying banner ads within mobile social networking sessions is insufficient.
"While the extension of popular online social networking communities onto mobile phones is a major growth driver, it is unreasonable to expect the same level of functionality as is offered through the PC," said Frost & Sullivan senior analyst Vikrant Gandhi in a prepared statement. "Mobile social networking services clearly need to be targeted toward mass-market phones in order to gain traction." [FierceMobileContent]
A recent Nielsen Company survey of Internet users in India sheds some light on their reasons for joining social networks.
Keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances, cited by 82% of respondents, was the number one reason given for joining a social network.
Reconnecting with old friends, at 58%, was the number two reason, while making new friends was third at 53%. Professional networking came in fourth at 43%.
"These days, the world has become a global village, and social networking sites are bringing people closer together and helping them to interact and share their thoughts within the group, no matter where in the world they are," said N.S. Muthukumaran at The Nielsen Company.
Two-thirds of the social networkers in India surveyed spend more than a half hour during each social networking session. More than half reported having more than 50 friends on the social networking site they use most often. [eMarketer]
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