Say What? Twitter Just Now Surpasses MySpace

I remember about 6 months ago when our house finally got a DVR, and me excitedly telling my friends about it. But instead of sharing in my joy, they all blankly stared at me wondering, you didn't already?

That's the same reaction I had yesterday when I saw a Wall Street Journal article about Twitter finally surpassing MySpace in unique monthly traffic.

I wasn't at all surprised about Twitter outpacing MySpace, but I was shocked (and I doubt I was the only one) that it hadn't already passed MySpace years ago.

Even more surprising were the numbers themselves. Twitter had 96 million unique visits in August, a 76% increase from the same time last year. But Twitter just barely beat out MySpace's 95 million August visitors, and that's after the original social networking giant took a 17% hit to their traffic. This makes Twitter the 3rd-most trafficked network behind Facebook and Microsoft's Windows Live network.

Both companies are hoping for significant growth over the next year or so, with the new Twitter.com launch getting positive reviews and the upcoming overhaul from MySpace.

Still, if Twitter were tell me they surpassed MySpace last month, I'd probably just blankly stare at them wondering, you didn't already?

The Facebook-Google Arms Race Heats Up

In the sea of Internet innovation, there are two big fish that we tend to see swimming the most: Facebook and Google.

And while other social media channels like Twitter are huge as well, the major trend right now is integration and moving towards conglomeration-type online hubs. Just look how Facebook expanded from simply social networking to multimedia and cross-platform integration. Meanwhile, Google's been dominant as a search engine and email utility and expanded with the addition of Google Instant and Google Talk/Voice phone and video chat.

Both companies have their strengths, and both companies have tried muscle in on the other one's territory. Google has gotten in on social networking with Google Buzz, and now Facebook has its sights set on Google with their developing partnership with Skype.

This is important because Skype is hands down the biggest player in the video chat game. Skype has already been integrated with Facebook to a degree, displaying which Facebook friends were on Skype at the time. Reportedly, this new integration will allow you to login to Skype with your Facebook credentials (nothing new there) and chat with your Facebook friends directly (definitely something new there).

Obviously, the 500-million-plus Facebook users won't see much of this new integration for a few weeks. But this is yet another step in the continuing race between Google and Facebook to establish Internet-wide dominance online.

The New Twitter Finally Makes It Way to the Land of 10,000 Lakes

Yesterday was a big day for the tweeting masses here in Minnesota, because that's when the new version of Twitter was made available to many of us around the Twin Cities. That group of new Twitter tweeters includes some of us around the Axiom office, so I thought I'd give more of a hands-on review of the changes as a followup to my post earlier this month.

For those of you who haven't gotten the updated version of Twitter, here's Axiom's page:

The major change is the visual redesign to a two-panel layout, reflecting the look of the iPad Twitter app. Personally I really like this new look, but like any visual overhaul it will vary from person to person.

As you can see, the customized background (particularly the left sidebar) did get affected. However a little resizing of the background image should remedy that, but it should be noted that there is a noticeable effect.

From a user standpoint, there are several changes that make the Twitter experience much smoother:

• You don't need to leave your Twitter page to view pictures or other profiles, they just show up on the right panel.
• Interestingly, while Facebook moved their 'Messages' tab from the top of the page to the sidebar, Twitter moved their 'Messages' tab from the sidebar to the top of the page, separating it from the '@ replies' and 'Retweets' sections.
• My favorite change? A search box. It sounds simple, but finding people or tweets on Twitter is much easier with a box on the main page.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, this is mostly just a visual change. It shouldn't revolutionize the way we live our 140-character lives. However, I do like the changes overall and I think it should make the Twitter experience as a whole a little better.

Is Google the Betty White of the Internet?

Google turns 12 years old today, which in dog years is pretty old...and in technology years is just about ancient.

The search engine giant is celebrating its birthday with a birthday cake logo on its home page, but that should come as no surprise seeing as how Google is just as well-known for its special logos as its search capabilities.

But what's most surprising isn't just that Google has survived, but that it has reemerged over the past year or two as an online titan. This brings me to why I titled this post the way I did.

Here's the comparison: Betty White was a star years ago, then sort of faded in the minds of the general public (basically fell off the face of the earth) but over the last few months has been everywhere with her surge of renewed popularity.

Likewise, Google enjoyed great success early but declined slightly with the social media boom of Facebook and Twitter, only to rise back through the online ranks with innovations to its search and mail services and the success of the Android OS.

So although 12 years old seems pretty young, surviving and thriving in the fast-paced and highly-competitive Internet technology field is definitely worth celebrating.

No Need to Throw the (Face)Book at Zuckerberg

If you were on Twitter yesterday, you probably saw the endless stream of tweets about Facebook crashing (even I got in on the 140-character bashing).

There were also more than a few users commenting on the timing of the crash, considering Mark Zuckerberg's soon-to-be-announced $100 million charity foundation for the Newark, NJ school system.

Once news of his donation broke, it didn't take long for people to questioning Zuckerberg's motives, claiming that he's only being charitable to boost his image and garner positive PR. Most of the controversy stems from the unflattering portrayal of the Facebook creator in the upcoming movie The Social Network.

Admittedly, I tend to be fairly critical of Zuckerberg, but this time I disagree with his critics. While I side with them on his motives (because I do think image repair is the driving force here), I don't understand why we need to rake him over the coals for it. Zuckerberg is by far not the first to use charity to try to offset negative public perception, and he won't be the last.

But here's the thing: Like him or not, Zuckerberg is helping a struggling school system get its head above water. And at the end of it all, that kind of charity outweighs any questions about his motives.

Video Post: Negative Tweet Comes At A Price

For Daily Axiom's first (but hopefully not last) video blog in well over a year, I decided to discuss the social media/PR debacle from earlier this week when the Price Chopper grocery store chain complained to a Twitter user's employer after a negative tweet. For the original blog post that sparked the controversy, click here.

Teenager Behind Twitter's Mouseover Mayhem

Once the dust settled from yesterday's Twitter mouseover security breach and users could finally return to their 140-character lives, the next question was who was responsible.

Well, a 17-year old from Australia claims he may have started the whole mess when he tweeted a piece of code that exposed the security flaw in Twitter's system. And while that tweet didn't necessarily cause the problem, hackers had a field day modifying it for more nefarious purposes.

So although he wasn't the shark that caused the beach to be shut down, he was the one who threw chum in the water.

Bid & Breakfast

One of the most cliched phrases we hear from hotels and travel sites is the idea of getting 5 star quality at a [insert low number of stars] price. Still, more often than not, people who have to watch their wallets end up staying at the cheapest (and invariably dingiest) motel they can find.

That save-all-you-can attitude combined with a still-recovering economy means that 4 and 5 star luxury resorts at the other end of the hotel spectrum have understandably struggled in recent years. Obviously there are way more luxury resorts than people who can afford or are willing to pay them. And that's why the site Off & Away caught my eye, because it looks to solve that very problem.

Basically, it's an auction site for high-end suites in luxury hotels in select locations, which are currently New York, L.A., San Fransisco, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Mexico, Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Miami, Washington D.C., and Boston. The offers range from a night at the Waldorf Towers to weekend stays at bed & breakfast resorts.

The way the site works is that you pay for a certain number of bids before auctions and then use them like bidding credits. You can see more of the nuts and bolts of how it works here.

Those who don't win the auction can still use their bids towards a hotel stay in any of the hotels on the site. And if you use your bids on the hotel featured in the auction, you will get an extra 10% off, although that only applies if you book a standard room rather than a suite. The winning hotel bid is only good for about 2 months, which means these auctions are probably best for those already planning a specific vacation.

All in all, this is a pretty clever idea that will hopefully provide a boost for the hospitality industry despite the risky nature of online auctions like this.

McDonald's Supersizes Results, But Leaves A Bad Taste In Our Mouths

Creativity is nice, but the true measure of a campaign is results. And when McDonald's boasted ridiculously-good numbers from their Foursquare campaign back in April, marketing and social media professionals perked up their collective ears.

However, McDonald's claims are based on one wildly inaccurate premise. I'll lay out what happened, and I'm sure you'll see where things take a hard left turn.

The promotion: Foursquare users who checked-in at McDonald's on 4/16 were entered for a chance to win McDonald's gift cards.

The results: McDonald's reported a 33% increase in foot traffic because of this promotion.

The problem: McDonald's head of social media stated that they considered Foursquare check-ins the same as in-store foot traffic. Right there is that hard left turn I alluded to three paragraphs ago.

Anyone who has any experience in either marketing or social media is probably shaking their head, and understandably so. Check-ins are about as similar to foot traffic as spam accounts are to actual friends or followers.

The fundamental flaw here is that users don't have to be in McDonald's to check-in, meaning there was probably a large, if not huge, percentage of that so-called spike in foot traffic who were nowhere near a McDonald's (trust me, we have experience with this kind of dilemma here at Axiom). It's entirely possible that someone could have been eating at Burger King while checking-in to McDonald's trying to win a gift card.

So, intentional or not, this a clear case of misreporting on McDonald's part. And while it's not an egregious, prison-worthy offense, McDonald's has set themselves up for criticism and have taken a hit to their social media credibility.

But who knows, maybe McDonald's was trying to unlock some "Social Media Blunder" badge I don't know about.

Feeling Blue: The Most Popular Brand Colors Online

It's a gloomy, rainy day here at the office, so I've decided to brighten things up a little bit. It all started a couple of weeks ago when one of us remarked that all of the major social media channels' logos (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) were blue.

Following up on what other info was out there, I started browsing the web (one of the few things I can still do with a cast on my hand) and found a great infographic from COLOURlovers that answered my question. Basically they compiled the logo colors for the top 100 brands online (you can find the infographic here), and some interesting patterns emerge.

Blue was by far the most-used color with a solid 35-40% percent of the top 100 brands using it. Red came in second, being used by about 18% of the top brands, meaning that almost two-thirds of the top brands online base their color scheme around blue or red.

What surprised me was the lack of big online brands that use green, purple, or pink. Only 4 brands use green, 4 use purple and just 3 brands are pink. And when it comes to the big online brands that don't use any color (blacks, whites and grays), the numbers are just as low with only 5 or 6 brands falling into that category.

So, obviously color is important. But if you can't pick just one color to go with for your brand, don't rule out the option of going with all of them. That's because 3 of the top 10 web brands have a multicolored/rainbow color scheme, including the top two brands (Google and MSN/Windows Live/Bing).

In our increasingly-visual culture, the color you base your logo on is important because it will dictate many of the design choices you make for your brand as a whole. And whether you go with a proven winner like blue or take the road less-traveled by using green or purple, putting a lot of thought into your brand's color palette is a crucial step in establishing a brand identity.

SocialSmack Turns Brand Reputation Into A Game

Have you ever used Twitter to vent your frustration or shower praise on a brand or company in 140 characters or less? I know that I've done it myself, and I see brand-related tweets and Facebook posts on a daily basis.

Well, there's a new startup called SocialSmack that capitalizes on our love of brand talk (both positive and negative), looking to gain a foothold in the crowded social gaming market. The idea is that you give "props" or "drops" (basically thumbs up or thumbs down) to different brands. In order to have your prop or drop count, you have to leave a comment on the brand as well. Also, the comments you leave can be voted up or down in Reddit-like fashion.

You earn points for propping and dropping (I don't know if that's the right terminology, but I'm hoping it'll catch on) and, like Foursquare, you can unlock badges as well. But unlike Foursquare, your SocialSmacking (again, not sure on terminology here) isn't location-based because you're commenting on the brand as a whole instead of a particular store or franchise location.

To sum SocialSmack up in one sentence, it takes brand reputation to the social gaming sphere. Having tried it out myself, I'll end with a couple props and drops of my own for SocialSmack:

Props:

• Great concept from a gaming standpoint.
• Easy-to -use interface that's visually well-designed.
• Prop-to-Drop ratio pretty similar to what I've seen outside of the site, which means SocialSmack could be a fairly accurate barometer of brand sentiment.
  

Drops:

• Many of the comments aren't useful or interesting (a lot of one-word comments).
• Because it's not location-based and there's no apparent limit on how frequently you can prop or drop, you could have a situation where people just keep clicking and clicking to earn points and badges without considering what/how they're commenting. This definitely makes the game less fun.
• The big ethical question: is brand reputation something that should even be turned into a game? Or do consumers have the right to a social game like this?

Have a Custom Twitter Background? Keep an Eye on the New Changes

My RSS feed this morning has been buzzing with news about the big changes coming to Twitter's website. If you haven't already seen it, here's a video Twitter released accompanying the overhaul. But to save you some reading, here's a quick look at the major moves being made:

• Visually, the new Twitter.com (especially the profile pages) will look a lot like the Twitter iPad app's layout, which has been highly acclaimed since its release.
• The default avatar is being changed from the bird to an egg.
• "More" no more: the "more" button is being scrapped, and now there will just be an endless stream of tweets.
• Introduction of the mini-profile: You'll be able to utilize a mini-profile for things like bringing up information on a user in the timeline and following users. 
• There will be a huge focus on multimedia support, with 16 partnerships planned. The companies named so far are YouTube, Flickr, Justin.TV, TwitPic, UStream, Vimeo, yfrog, TwitVid, Twitgoo, Plixi, Photozou, Kiva, DeviantART, Etsy, Kickstarter, and DailyBooth.

Did you notice how I didn't say anything about Twitter page dimensions? That's because I haven't heard anything either way about whether or not the box in the middle of the Twitter page (which can't be changed/formatted by users) will be adjusted.

This is an important piece of information for the thousands of Twitter users, myself included, who have custom backgrounds on their pages. If that main box gets moved or changed, there will be many unhappy Twitter users who will have to re-format their background images.

But like I said, I haven't heard that the Twitter page dimensions will be changed, I just haven't heard that they won't be changed. And if the box does get re-sized, you can expect to see a lot of users voicing their frustration 140 characters at a time.

We've Seen a Social Media Binge, Are We Now Seeing the Purge?

If you're a social media professional or enthusiast (notice I didn't say guru), you've undoubtedly followed the constant stream of social media news. I know I've seen article after article asking "Are we done with social media yet?" and voicing their waning interest in their social media channels. In some cases, this is turning into cases of social media actually being avoided or abandoned.

Two examples in particular caught my eye. One was the article about John Mayer leaving Twitter. That's right, not taking a break...but leaving Twitter and his 3.7 million followers altogether.

The other example is Harrisburg University of Science and Technology's upcoming social experiment where they will forbid students from using social websites and applications for a week. Considering I get the shakes if I have to go a day without social media, I'm sure that experiment won't be all that popular.

But both of those stories beg the question, "Are we seeing a true social media backlash?" Social media use has been growing for years, but the number of articles and posts criticizing that use has increased even faster.

At the end of the day though, I don't see John Mayer or Harrisburg University causing the downfall of social media. However, these cases do deserve to be looked at because, as we continue to immerse ourselves in social media, we could see more instances of people backing away from it.

Learning Local

Saturday was the much-anticipated Minnesota Blogger Conference at St. Paul’s CoCo. Hosted by Arik Hanson and Melissa Berggren, the conference drew over 140 of Minnesota’s most influential bloggers.

In addition to all the people I was able to meet on Saturday, I was also left with a lot of things to think about when planning my next social media move.

Toby Cryns gave an excellent presentation about CSS for Wordpress, and I left with a pageful of plugins and websites that will save me hours of googling as I start my next web project. Just the words Firebug and css3generator.com made this entire conference worth it.

Local favorite Julio Ojeda-Zapata lead a session on pain-free blogging and introduced me to a lot of up-and-coming blogging platforms like Posterious and Tumblr. Most importantly, he gave me a reason to think about domain hosting and why you should at least consider paying for a hosting service. When it boils down to it, you need to know if you own your content or if your hosting service does.

Molly Snyder lead a conversation about how to host blogger giveaways without giving away your integrity. A great session filled with excellent questions and discussion left me wondering about the big ad networks like BlogHer. As these bloggers ponder if what they review and giveaway will be a fit for their readership, ad networks have a lot of control over blog content. Does belonging to an ad network compromise your integrity?

And of course, as we learn local, we eat local. During the conference lunch, I snuck over to the St. Paul Farmers Market to grab some cucumbers and hummus. A girl’s gotta eat.

My favorite tweet during the conference was that social media is becoming reputation management. Wise words from a group of local experts. What was your favorite takeaway from the conference?

Daily Accidents

Bad news. Steve Retka, a regular contributor here at Daily Axioms broke his hand last night after a dramatic fall in his Lakeville home. By dramatic, we mean he was walking slowly in a straight line and took a tumble.

So when you see Steve at the Minnesota Blogger Conference or at the Renaissance Festival, take it easy on him. Just because he has a splint on doesn't mean he's not heavily drugged.

An Instant Hit?

Just two days ago I wrote about Google's push into the music-streaming market, questioning its continuous expansion into new ventures while ignoring its biggest strength as a search engine.

That's why I was glad to hear that the Google Instant launch yesterday was aimed at bettering its search capabilities, because it's Google's power as a search engine that has made it the cultural icon that it is.

Basically, Google Instant allows more search results with less typing. For instance, if you type in the letter "a" the first result is Amazon.com and typing in "w" will bring up Weather.com. And although it's just been launched, Google Instant is getting pretty positive reviews.

Obviously I had to try it out for myself before passing judgment, and was pleased with what I found. The results that pop up aren't just the globally popular ones like eBay and Facebook, but seem to take your search habits and location into account. Typing in "x" not only brings up XBox but Minnesota giant Xcel Energy as well (it actually listed Xcel Energy ahead of XBox), while "v" brings up both Verizon and Valleyfair.  The top 5 results for "d" even included Dakota County where I live.

The implications here could be big, both from a consumer and business standpoint. For consumers it means less typing for presumably better results. Also, the affect of Google Instant on SEO for businesses is being heavily debated. Some are claiming Google Instant will kill SEO while others saying it will improve it, and Google's Matt Cutts wrote a great blog post about it.

So I'll give Google Instant my stamp of approval for now, although it has yet to be integrated with the browser. But more importantly, the launch of Google Instant shows that Google isn't forgetting what made them famous by re-focusing on search capabilities.

Hello OnStar? I Just Crashed My Car...But I Need to Update My Facebook Status First

Slowly but surely Facebook has poked, updated and friended their way into nearly every facet of our lives. We've seen company after company integrate with the social networking giant, but the latest one should raise a few eyebrows: OnStar.

That's right; the in-car communication system is branching out from its typical only-use-this-in-an-emergency routine with the addition of entertainment features like this Facebook integration.

General Motors, the company behind OnStar, is trying to compete with Ford's Sync system. Obviously Ford beat GM to the punch when it comes to in-car social media integration, but Sync was a whole new system created with social media in mind. OnStar, on the other hand, had already established itself as a practical emergency service, with a pragmatic and utilitarian focus.

I don't think it's the best move for OnStar, because it's broadening their focus too much. OnStar has branded itself as practical, and is now trying to reposition itself as social. I'm sorry, but those are largely conflicting ideas from a brand perspective.

Maybe I'm wrong with my take on this, but I think GM and OnStar worked too hard to position itself as safety-minded (which I think they succeeded in) to now promote a service that neglects safety and driving focus to worry about your Facebook status instead.

I think I've stated my case here, but let me know what you think in the comment section below.

What Will Be the Big Trend in 2011?

Most social media minds like to wait until the end of the year to start predicting what the big trends will be the following year.

However, a bit of a pattern is starting to emerge and I'm going to throw out an early prediction for what will dominate social news headlines in 2011: music and music-based networking.

We're starting to see a huge social-musical push already, starting with hugely popular music-based apps like Shazam and Grooveshark. There's also a growing trend of music streaming sites expanding to other venues like Pandora's Facebook integration or MOG adding a music-related news hub.

Add in last week's launch of Apple's social media music service Ping, which drew 1 million subscribers in the first 48 hours, and it's safe to say that this musical integration is a legitimate evolution in the social media space.

But it doesn't stop there. The latest news from Google is that the search giant is hoping to get a music streaming service up and running late this year in an effort to compete with iTunes and hopefully knock the music download king off its throne.

I can't (or won't) say whether or not Google will be able to overtake iTunes, but I would not be surprised if we see a lot more music-based services, apps and networks next year. Of course with how fast the social media space changes, I could be singing a different tune come December.

Axiom's Calendar Heats Up As Temperatures Cool

We have officially entered conference season. Not that our Axiom-ers don’t get excited about our Twins making it to the playoffs or the Vike’s 50th season, but what gets circled three times and highlighted twice on our calendars are the great conferences we get to be a part of in the coming months.

Minnesota Blogger Conference
Coordinated by Minnesota’s own Arik Hanson and Melissa Berggren, September 11 marks the first-ever Minnesota Blogger Conference. Heidi Bobier and Steve Retka will be making an appearance, so make sure to say 'hi' to these Daily Axioms bloggers if you were lucky enough to grab tickets before they sold out.

Type A Mom Conference
Now less than a month away, the Type A Mom Conference in North Carolina will host hundreds of the nation’s top mom bloggers to meet and mingle. Axiom’s Social Media Manager Heidi Bobier will be speaking on the panel, “Bloggers and Companies: How to Work Together for Everyone’s Benefit” alongside superstars Amy Lupold Bair, Angela LoSasso and David Griner. With a few clients there as well, it’s going to be a busy September!

I Blog
Iowa-based I Blog welcomes bloggers of all levels from the Midwest to join in a regional conference this November. Axiom Productions Videographer Dave Sniadak will be leading the discussion, “Video Bloggling: The Basics and Why You Should.” Held in Perry, IA, I Blog shows you don’t have to go far for a great blog conference.

With many more conferences on the horizon, these are just a few that we’re looking forward to most. Which ones will we be seeing you at?

3 Great Points From Today's Java Meetup 612

This morning I got to attend the Java MeetUp 612 social media discussion, with Nicole Harrison (@SocialNicole) and Kate-Madonna Hindes (@GirlMeetsGeek) talking about maximizing your LinkedIn use. It was a great morning of mingling and discussion, and today's post will highlight the 3 points that I found the most helpful.

LinkedIn isn't just a bobber in the water: you need to do something with it.

This was something that Kate said, but was an overarching point that both her and Nicole touched on and alluded to. LinkedIn seems to the social network that people tend to create and then ignore, but like any social media channel requires engagement and involvement to really be effective. If I had to sum up today's Java Meetup 612 in one sentence, that's what it would be.

Don't just name links: let people know why they need to click it.

This was a very interesting point that Nicole made, and she was talking about editing the website links on your profile to say what someone will see when they click it, rather than just what the link is. For instance, if I list Daily Axioms as one of my websites on my LinkedIn profile (which I do), I can change the title of the website link to "Social media news and analysis" (which I did). That way, someone knows what the link is about before they click, and because of that will be more inclined to visit the site. This was one tip I took to heart right away and acted on as soon as I sat down at my computer afterwards.


80% of employers look for recommendations, so yes recommendations do matter.

Both Kate and Nicole discussed LinkedIn recommendations and the best practices behind them. Kate let us know why they're important when she said that 80% of potential employers look for and read recommendations. She also brought up the fact that it's okay to "coach" whoever is writing your recommendation and guide them towards certain topics/projects to write about. That way the recommendations will be more genuine and offer different (yet still relevant) points for potential employers.

Nicole also brought up a great point that the best starting point for someone looking to get a recommendation is to write one themselves. Just like with Twitter, if you want to build your network you need to take the first step yourself and make the effort to reach out.

So there you have it, these were the 3 points that I personally found the most interesting. Obviously there was a lot of other topics we discussed, so I definitely recommend attending these Java Meetups. Check out the Java Meetup 612 Twitter page to get the latest updates about when the next one will be.

Plant Necessities: Water, Sunlight and...Facebook Interactions?

Back in college I got a plant for my dorm room, but unfortunately it died because I spent all my time on Facebook instead of taking care of it.

But there's a new garden/artwork/social experiment in Brisbane, Australia that would've solved my social media-related plant negligence: a real garden that relies entirely on Facebook interactions.

The garden, called Meet Eater, has two pots containing herbs, that require water and sunlight like all plants do. However, those plant essentials are rigged to a system that distributes them based on the interactions Meet Eater recieves on its Facebook page. Meet Eater even replies to Facebook posts with messages of its own. The mind behind Meet Eater, Bashkim Isai, created the project with the hope of re-establishing the connection between humans and plants.

I like this idea because it is a new take on combining the online world of social media with the traditionally-offline world of gardening.

More importantly, the success Meet Eater has enjoyed so far can be largely attributed to the fact that it responds to posts and interacts with those who post on its page. This illustrates how important personality has become in the social media space. Because with so many different voices on so many different networks, you need authentic and genuine interaction if you want to truly engage with your audience.

This is a lesson Meet Eater has thrived on, and is why I give this project two (green) thumbs up.