New Media – Photovine

As part of their concerted effort to provide a more “social” offering, Google has launched a new photo sharing iPhone app called Photovine.

The idea behind Photovine is to use photos to tell stories through “vines”.  These “vines” are a collection of pictures around a caption. For example, if you go to watch Take That you can start a “vine” called ‘Take That Manchester Show’ and publish a picture of the concert. People following you can view this and also ‘join the vine’ by posting their own pictures.

Until now, the app has been in closed beta testing with a very limited number of users. However, it is now open for all to sign up.

Who will use Photovine and why?

Photovine will be aimed at everyone. The amazing popularity of Instagram (last week they surpassed 150 million photos being shared) has demonstrated the mass appeal of the photosharing services and Google has come up with an interesting concept that aims to differentiate itself from its competitors.

The idea of a grouping photos and encouraging people to add to a collection is a great way to drive engagement and is something that will spur users into action.

 

Photovine also helps to guide users who may be unsure about what photos they want to post – by giving them a theme or topic to follow, which makes it easier for them to get involved. This inclusive guided experience could encourage more people to post their own images.

The fantastic look and feel of the app – something that Google is not generally very good at – also means Photovine can compete with Instagram.

The Future

Photovine seems to have everything in place to be a huge success. The concept is original and the app looks great. It also features everything you would expect from a social network, with friend finding and sharing features on Twitter and Facebook. You can also chat with your followers, setup a profile, add captions and texts to your pictures.

The biggest challenge for Google may be getting enough users using the app to make it viable and ensure the ‘Vines’ concept works  –  though with the launch of Google+, integration between these services looks like a win-win situation, facilitating the growth of both platforms.

Cleaning up after the riots using social media

If there was ever any sign of the importance of social media as a form of communication then the riots in London and other cities such as Birmingham and Liverpool have provided it.

Social media is a neutral tool – and though it has been used by the minority to instigate violence it has also been shown to be an incredible way to share up-to-date news, a way to offer support and now, today, as a way for communities to join together and start the clean-up operation after the last few nights of destruction.

The ways in which social platforms like Twitter and Facebook allow messages to be quickly shared between large groups in real time and for instant communication to happen, have been invaluable to cleanup organisers who need to quickly and efficiently gather together followers in the aftermath of the rioting.

On Twitter people attending the clean up sessions are using the hashtags #londoncleanup and #riotcleanup to organise themselves. A Twitter account RiotCleanUp was set up last night providing a vital source of information for people looking to help rebuild city centres. The account tweeted places and times where community clear-ups were happening and also posted offers of help and resources. The @RiotCleanUp account has already gained more than 55,000 followers in less than 14 hours.

It quickly gained the attention of celebrities such as Rio Ferdinand, Simon Pegg and Tinchy Stryder  who tweeted about it. TV presenter Clare Balding wrote: “I’ve been trying to find some ray of sunshine amid the chaos, anger & violence. @riotcleanup can allow Londoners to show our real character.” Comedian Dave Gorman commented: “Went to bed depressed by the news. Now feeling strangely emotional as I read about @riotcleanup #riotcleanup Amazing.”

It wasn’t just Twitter that was being used to mobilise communities. One Facebook group called “post riot clean-up: let’s help London” had gained more than 7,000 followers at the time of writing with people offering help and posting about how people can donate to charities who are supporting those affected.

Other platforms have also been used to help people know what is going on. With many rumours about what has happened within London this Google My Map attempts to map verified locations that have been affected by the London rioting and looting.

You can also check out this London Riots Clean Up Storify created by Mashable to see how the story is unfolding.

 

Further tips for improving your Facebook EdgeRank

In May we wrote a post on how to improve your brand’s Facebook EdgeRank (You can read that here). However, with many brands still unsure of what exactly it is and how vital it can be we have now outlined additional top tips to boost your Facebook EdgeRank.

There are now more than 750 million Facebook users. 50% of these users log on to Facebook on any given day and the average user has 130 friends. These statistics mean that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for friends and brands to gain a place on users’ News Feeds.

Optimising your Facebook EdgeRank – the unique algorithm which decides what posts appear in your Fans’ ‘Top News’ stream – is therefore becoming increasingly vital.

This algorithm ranks posts based on three main factors: affinity, weight and timing. The higher your ranking for these factors, the more likely your posts will be visible on a Fan’s ‘Top News’ feed.

Though there is no way to officially identify your EdgeRank score, using Facebook’s Insights tool is vital in gaining an understanding of how you are doing and how well you are interacting with your Fans. Insights can tell you how many active monthly users you have in relation to your overall likes. This will give you a clear indication of how high your EdgeRank is.

To put it simply, EdgeRank is all about engagement. EdgeRank is weighted so activities that require higher levels of user engagement get a higher score than those activities that don’t. For example you may want to consider asking an open ended question. This means the higher your engagement level with Fans, the higher your EdgeRank score will be.

Here are our Dos (and a Don’t) on how to increase engagement within Facebook and boost your EdgeRank:

DO:

Run a poll or competition

A good competition or poll not only drives interest in your Page but also increases engagement. They’re fun and actively ask users to interact with your content, increasing the number of ‘edges’ it receives. By building up excitement as the competition comes to a climax you can really build an engaged and receptive audience who are incentivised to interact with you.

Post videos

In our previous post on EdgeRank we recommended using rich media to stand out from your competition – but it’s a point that bears repeating. Videos rank highly compared to other ‘objects’ such as status updates. Not only this, when done correctly they are also easy to digest for the audience, are eye-catching on the page and can succinctly get your message across in an entertaining way. If you create your own videos this is a great opportunity to leverage already existing content you have on YouTube.

Ask questions

Another great tip is to phrase your Facebook post as a question. People generally won’t respond unless they are invited to, so this is a highly effective way of increasing engagement on your Facebook Wall. Social media is about conversations after all! What’s more, ask them questions that are brand relevant and you can gain insights into how your brand can better meet your audience’s needs.

Use links to share content

Social media is all about sharing. Posting links to interesting and relevant content produces a thumbnail for your post (helping it to standout) and also encourages people to click and share the information. You can use this to your brands advantage by driving traffic back to your site or social presences such as Twitter or Flickr for example.  There is also another benefit – creating links that direct to your other sites optimises your brand for search, meaning that it is easier for your audience to find you. This approach of sharing links not only helps with EdgeRank but also boosts SEO to increase your visibility amongst fans and non-fans.

Engage with your fans

It’s important to remember that when you Post it doesn’t mean your work is done. If someone responds to your Post take the opportunity to engage them in conversation. (This must be done in a timely manner and you should only respond if you can add value). This helps to build up a relationship and shows them that they are a valued member of your community. It’s also a virtuous circle as it will encourage more people to engage with your Page – in turn increasing your EdgeRank.

And finally

DON’T:

Autopost

Using tools like HootSuite and TweetDeck might seem efficient but it’s important to remember that, when it comes to EdgeRank, manual posts have more weight than posts automated through apps.

Your audience can tell which posts are automated or have been specifically written for Twitter (e.g. featuring hashtags) and which have been personalised – and for this reason autoposts do not produce as much engagement. Autoposts also have a tendency to disappear from your Fans’ News Feeds more quickly.

Why should you care about EdgeRank?

Optimising your EdgeRank means that your brand is found on your audience’s News Feed – and you are part of an exclusive and trusted club. You are able to talk to your audience every day, build greater engagement and you are ideally positioned to create deep, meaningful and long-lasting relationships with them. Understanding the benefits of Facebook EdgeRank and implementing our strategic insights can help create an engaged community, gain a trusted and receptive customer base and, ultimately, maximise your ROI.

How to monetise your Facebook presence

Social networks are becoming increasingly business minded. Facebook has always been a platform that has been aware of the commercial possibilities that it offers – and throughout the last year it has added features that show an understanding of the needs and interests of brands across industries.

The emergence of Facebook Deals, Facebook Credits and Facebook Commerce are all evidence of the platform’s willingness to offer brands opportunities to monetise their presence on Facebook:

Facebook Deals The launch of Facebook Deals is part of a growing trend where consumers increasingly use their mobiles instead of credit cards. It lets users ‘check in’ to venues via the Places feature on the Facebook mobile app. For example, through Deals, the first 30,000 Facebook users to check in at Starbucks stores in the UK could claim a free coffee. In this way, Facebook Deals provides brands and retailers with the opportunity to give fans offers and promotions directly when they Check-In near their store using their phones.

The benefits are clear:  brands can use Facebook Deals as a virtual loyalty card or coupon system. Since its  launch in January 2011, it has attracted a host of big name brands such as the aforementioned Starbucks, Argos and O2.

However it can also benefit smaller businesses, who sometimes find it difficult to see the benefits of having a Facebook presence. Deals provides them with a scalable, manageable, low cost way to offer discounts and encourage people to visit their store.

Facebook Commerce There’s a real feeling among a lot of people in the industry that F-commerce, as it has been named, is the second online commerce revolution. You can now rent films, book plane tickets, make donations to charities, purchase clothes and even buy Tomato Sauce – all through branded Facebook Store tabs.

The rise of F-commerce has transformed Facebook Pages, allowing brands to not only engage with fans but also sell to them. Brands can create a store within a Facebook tab, creating a retail environment that never takes the user away from Facebook. This provides brands with a huge captive audience.

Alternatively brands can utilise ‘Facebook-Facilitated On-Site Selling’which allows them to use a social plug-in to bring the Facebook experience to their websites. Using Facebook’s Open Graph API to retrieve the Likes and interests of the user also means brands can tailor their website to the user’s interests.

Facebook Credits On July 1st 2011 Facebook Credits became the mandatory virtual currency for buying virtual goods in games and apps on Facebook. And, even though Facebook seems to be content working at this level at the moment, the growth potential of Facebook Credits is huge.  It has already been used by brands like the BBC to pay for content.

The next step in Facebook Credits’ growth could be to embed a ‘Buy with Facebook’ button on every online retailer’s website so Credits becomes the currency to be used across the entire web, providing a fully integrated e-commerce solution.

Facebook monetisation – the bottom line A crucial part of any brand’s business strategy is obviously to monetise their social spaces. It also makes complete sense – it allows you to take your company to where your customers are.

There are more than 30 million people on Facebook in the UK alone (out of a global potential of over 700 million). The rise of monetisation opportunities such as Facebook Deals and F-Commerce means Facebook now provides a tangible difference to a business’ bottom line.