Tweet limit impacts Social CRM effectiveness - just ask O2

February 1st, 2012

The development of Social CRM has been well documented over the last few years, and we have written a number of posts on the subject, sharing Liberate Media’s experiences of Social CRM campaigns.

However, a very real issue in the development of Social CRM, at least in terms of Twitter usage, was highlighted last week by O2 who exceeded their daily limit while attempting to respond to a breaking communications crisis. O2 asked Twitter for an extension on the amount of tweets it could send, (Twitter’s daily limit is 250 direct messages a day, and 1,000 tweets) but this was refused.

O2′s PR and social media campaigns manager, James Paterson, confirmed the issue at last week’s 1-2-1 Digital Strategy Summit, run by Marketing Week. In fact, he confirmed that O2 actually accrued the same amount of ‘mentions’ in one day as it does in a normal week.

If you are not familiar with the issue, O2 was attempting to respond to the news that user’s mobile phone numbers were being leaked to websites that they visited.

In the Marketing Week piece, Paterson said it was important that O2 did “not stay quietly in [its] shell” as news circulated about the data leaks and that the company employed a strategy immediately to respond to user questions and communicate that it was investigating the issue.

The mobile operator did utilise other tactics as part of its Social CRM response, i.e. preparing a “Q&A” blog post to explain the technical reasons behind the data leak and to apologise for the concern caused.

Paterson said: “We wanted to respond to as many people as possible with fair answers. In the past we may have just given a Q&A to the well-known media outlets, but our people understand that if you answer queries and communicate to people on social media straight away, problems tend to be resolved more quickly.”

However, although O2 followed a clear strategy for its response, it was hindered by Twitter’s account limit.

Twitter has commented on the limit issue: “Limits alleviate some of the strain on the behind-the-scenes part of Twitter, and reduce downtime and error pages. For the sake of reliability, we’ve placed some limits on account actions like following, API requests, direct messages, and updates.”

“The daily update limit is further broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals. Retweets are counted as updates.”

These rules obviously reduce the effectiveness of Social CRM response mechanisms for large brands, although in fairness Twitter was not designed as a CRM channel, therefore it has no responsibility to look out for such problems.

However, as Twitter continually looks towards brands to bolster its revenue strategy, it’s likely that it will not only expand this function, but also charge for it, a charge that i’m sure the majority of brands would be willing to pay.

In this instance O2 responded to a breaking issue well, and tried to be open by answering as many of its customer tweets as possible, but this was quickly curtailed when Twitter would not allow any further tweets that day.

This issue, and the others that are sure to follow, further highlight a real flaw in many social CRM strategies, while also drawing attention to a revenue opportunity for Twitter. If Twitter is not already working on a paid response they are likely to be jumping on it rapidly in the near future.

Posted in Blog, Blogging, Digital communications, Digital media, Emerging technology, PR, Social media, Social networking, Useful resources | No Comments »

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Google changes the rules and upsets Twitter, among others

January 12th, 2012

Earlier this week Google announced a number of changes, which apply to the U.S. only at this stage, and are designed to accelerate personal search, and move towards social search.

The three changes fall under the following categories:

First: Personal results, aimed at helping you to find more relevant to…well…you.
Second: Profiles in search, meaning you can more easily identify people you’re close to or want to follow.
Third: People and pages, which focuses on helping you to find profiles and Google+ pages related to memes or topics of interest.

The additions offer more meaningful ways to connect with people around you, straight from the search results.

This all sounds well and good, and personalising and or customising results to be more relevant can only be more positive, can’t it?

Many commentators such as the Guardian and BBC have picked up on the other side effect of these changes which is to make Google+ much more relevant. For example, when you search for information, particularly about individuals, results from the social network will be prominently displayed on the first page of results, assuming you are a member.

That makes Google+ a much more attractive social network, as users will see fewer results from outside it when they search for information.

As you might expect, Twitter has offered its opinion on the issue, as it has perhaps the most to lose. Twitter’s lead lawyer, Alex Macgillivray, called it a “bad day for the internet“, and suggested - as a former Google employee - that there would have been dissent internally “at search being warped this way“.

Twitter later made a formal statement: “For years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results any time they wanted to find something on the internet.

“As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter, as a result, Twitter accounts and tweets are often the most relevant results. We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organisations and Twitter users.”

Others have also criticised the change, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land commented: “Search engines are supposed to send you away to the best information, even if they don’t have their own in stock. Google has previously been excellent at providing links to the most suitable information.

“Today’s change is one of the few times where I’m thinking ‘What the hell are you doing, Google?’”

Getting to the heart of the matter, Google was always going to find a way to move its social network, which is so far behind the game, to the front. Its best strategy to achieve this is to link its social network more closely to its search engine, which is after all the most popular in the U.S and Europe. But is that fair?

Google’s decision to favour Google+ posts which would not rank highly by its normal criteria (defined by the number of “authoritative” pages on the web linking to it) could suggest that it is favouring its own product in order to grow it more quickly. That in turn could breach antitrust (or competition) laws.

Twitter and Facebook content does not generally appear in Google search results because neither site provides Google with unlimited access to their content.

Twitter formerly had an agreement in which Google paid for access to index its database directly, but Twitter chose not to renew the agreement, according to a statement placed on Google+ by an official Google account, which said it was “a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments” because “they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer“.

Although these changes are likely to head to Europe eventually, the Guardian piece suggests Google may have to think twice about introducing the changes over here because it has a greater share of search in European countries, meaning a ruling on it affecting the market is more likely, and also if the changes extend to results on Android phones, then it may face more urgent calls for an antitrust investigation.

This wouldn’t be the first time that there has been a call for Google to be investigated on such grounds, but if these changes do come to Europe as expected, we could be on the verge of a few interesting legal actions.

Posted in Blog, Blogging, Content, Digital communications, Digital media, Emerging technology, PR, Social media, Social networking, Trends and research, Useful resources | No Comments »

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Twine - connecting objects and people in a simple, cool way

December 30th, 2011

Two US designer-engineers are about to launch a very cool device called Twine.

Twine is 2 ½ inches square and will enable anyone to connect with their physical objects through texts, tweets or email wherever they are.

MIT Media Lab graduates David Carr (above, right) and John Kestner (above, left) developed the wireless device to integrate with a cloud-based service.

Twine has a thermometer to measure its internal temperature and an accelerometer to track any movement it experiences and a connector to add external sensors through the tightly integrated Spool web app.

Spool is very easy to use – it is rules based with extensive filters and so needs no coding experience at all.

The device has two built-in probes provide for several functions controlled by Spool and is powered by a mini USB or two AAA batteries and the device tells you by email when the batteries are running low.

The ways in which Twine could be used to interact with our household and other objects is limited only by our imaginations. It can monitor kitchen cool storage, water and heat and prompt us if there are variations for example, water flows in unexpected areas, problems with cool storage and so on.

Other folks seem to like the idea – Carr and Kestner, who now run Supermechanical, wanted to raise $35,000 seed cash by online donations. They’ve raised $440,000 to date.

We can expect Twine to arrive on the market in first quarter of 2012 and it should retail at $99. Let the imagination games begin!

Watch the Twine video

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Cyber threats increase as the world goes mobile and networked

December 23rd, 2011

Cyber threats continue to grow as the world becomes more mobile and networked. Next year, we can expect the number of successful network defence attacks to grow rapidly, partly because legislation will make data breach reporting mandatory but also because, increasingly, everything that moves will become a target – as a controllable mobile networked device.

What are the chances that the increased opportunities will result in cyber-attack, successful or not? Given the current network security methodologies deployed in a greater majority of organisations around the world, which rely on layers of software to deflect attacks, and the lack of robust security at the device level, I think it is highly probable that series of attacks will be mounted next year.

This is recognised in a current report on one mobile sector, on the world’s waters. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has just published the first EU report on cyber security challenges in the Maritime Sector. The report says that recent deliberate disruptions of critical automation systems, through malware worms such as Stuxnet, prove that cyber-attacks have a significant impact on critical infrastructures.

Disruption through Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) to these ICT capabilities may have disastrous consequences for EU Member States’ governments and social well-being. The need to ensure ICT robustness against cyber-attacks is a key challenge at national and pan-European level.

The report says that Maritime cyber security awareness is currently low to non-existent and advises: “Due to the high ICT complexity, it is a major challenge to ensure adequate maritime cyber security. A common strategy and the establishing of good practices for technology development and implementation of ICT systems would therefore ensure ‘security by design’ for all critical maritime ICT components.”

The tools for creating such havoc are becoming more focused and professional — and more accessible.

The newest and most unpredictable weaknesses today are in the connected systems embedded in late-model cars.

Vulnerabilities have been identified in remote start, locking, tracking and other car systems. Computer security researchers at iSec Partners, for example, have shown how they can unlock a car and turn on its engine using a laptop computer - and it took them but a few hours to tap into the car’s wireless connections.

These innovations were intended as theft deterrents but if cyber-criminals or terrorists could take control of these systems the consequences hardly bear thinking about.

And while the possibility of controlling an aircraft by remote computer, causing it to crash remains remote but hackers can disrupt flights and create potentially life-threatening situations.

Even rudimentary distributed denial of service attacks (DDOS) can and have been deployed; for example, the “ Low Orbit Ion Cannon“. These repurposed administrative tools bring down systems DDOS and they could cause serious problems if directed at critical transportation systems.

These networks are certainly frighteningly vulnerable. In 2002, a major weakness in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) was discovered that could have been exploited to bring down large portions of the Internet. The vulnerability was kept a secret while security firms worked to protect telecommunications equipment around the world.

According to FBI reports at the time, if the systems could have been used to interrupt control information exchanged between ground and aircraft flight control systems – but the patches came just in time.

Similar outages in telecommunications systems and embedded systems could be used to disrupt train and track switching information in some countries, particularly the US.

Some rail systems there are based on supervisory control and data acquisition control systems (SCADA), similar to those that were compromised in the Stuxnet attacks in 2010.

Governments, organisations and corporates around the globe are waking up, belatedly to the seriousness of current network defence structural flaws. I hope that this new focus and energy will lead to adoption of radically more robust methodologies in 2012.

Posted in Digital communications, Emerging technology, Network security | No Comments »

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YouGov 2012 consumer technology predictions

December 20th, 2011

YouGov has announced its 2012 predictions for UK consumers’ consumption and behaviour around Smart TV, smartphones, Facebook, digital newspapers and digital radio. The findings originate from a multi-country study, carried out in November 2011 with almost 13,000 respondents.

The headline statistics include:
o 15% of UK consumers say they will own a Smart TV within the next 12 months
o 86% of smartphone users ignore advertising on mobiles
o 60% of UK online population now use Facebook more than once a day
o 24% of tablet users access the web whilst in bed
o Just over one in five (22%) of 18-24 year olds have listened to the Radio via a portable radio set (including DAB)

As you can see, surprisingly only 15% of UK consumers said that they expect to purchase a connected, or ‘Smart’, TV within the next 12 months. However, that figure may not tell the whole story as people are already connecting their TV to the web via external devices, including games consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS3, along with ‘plug in’ boxes such as Boxee.

The biggest driver for adoption of Smart TV is the availability of content, as YouGov reports 36% of UK respondents aged 18-24 said that they would make a connected TV purchase if they could watch their favourite TV content on-demand.

Dan Brilot, media consulting director at YouGov, said: “Smart content producers must continue to develop their services to make it increasingly easier for people to watch what they want, when they want, wherever they want.”

Moving onto smartphones, 40% of people own smartphones in the UK, increasing to 68% within the next upgrade cycle. However, YouGov say 86% of smartphone users ignore advertising on mobiles, meaning engagement via mobile must be useful and relevant - not broadcasted, or in other words: advertising.

In terms of digital newspapers and tablets, Russell Feldman, associate director of technology at YouGov says: “The decline of print media sales will only accelerate during 2012. Tablets and apps will increase the digital cannibalisation of paper copies as they erode more of those previously inaccessible locations to digital devices; for example, nearly one quarter (24%) of tablet users access the internet whilst in bed.”

Tablet usage is still small (currently only 4% of the UK population own one) but that number is growing and, as the market develops and new entrants such as the Kindle Fire gain traction, newspaper and magazine publishers will focus more effort on specific tablet versions of their publications.

Finally, DAB take-up hasn’t quite lived up to the initial hype. To make this happen, Dan Brilot, media consulting director at YouGov says: “The radio industry needs to educate and support consumers as they become accustomed to new ways of listening and to ensure that reach and frequency opportunities are truly maximised - not lost - in the digital age.”

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Why take the Google+ page plunge?

November 18th, 2011

Google+ launched Google+ pages last week, in direct competition with Facebook, and the evidence shows that many brands have set up a page over the first week of activity, at least according to research by SEO firm BrightEdge, who confirmed ‘61 percent of world’s top 100 brands have already created Google+ pages‘, which is pretty impressive considering the time frame.

The question that keeps coming up is: ‘Why do I need a Facebook page and a Google+ page?’ Many of those brands that have taken the plunge already will have grabbed their Google+ page, simply to secure it, which is reason enough at least in the short term. Some may be surprised to hear though that it’s easy to set up fake pages so look for the verified badge when you visit the site.

So why does a brand need a Google+ page? Well, there are many reasons, 18.5 of which are defined in Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp’s piece on the Drum last week, and as he suggested, the integration of Analytics, YouTube, Adwords, Picassa offers an advantage over Facebook, and perhaps an insight into the longer term strategy.

Obviously Facebook is the prime motivation for the Google+ launch, and many feel Google+ is too far behind to mount an effective challenge, but the issue here is not so much about the stand alone effectiveness of Google+ vs Facebook, but the sheer scale of Google products that Google + already integrates, and will undoubtedly increase in the future. Let’s also not forget Google’s strength, its search engine, which has led to its Google+ pages already out ranking Facebook brand pages, which is reason enough for some brands to get involved.

The BrightEdge analysis showed Google+ pages on average appeared in the top 12 Google search results for the corresponding brand, while the brand’s Facebook pages on average appeared in the top 13 or 14 listed results.

The flexibility in connectedness, and search, gives Google the long term edge in terms of synching with its full range of services. Of course many services also synch with Facebook, but Google’s vision seems to take this to another level. We’re not talking about beating Facebook, Google is simply building around it and making it less relevant.

The reality is we’re a long way away from that today as 94 percent of the Top 100 brands analysed by BrightEdge have a presence on Facebook, and in terms of the big brands, like Coke, McDonalds and Verizon each only has dozens of fans on Google+, but millions of Facebook fans. The review of Facebook and Google+ properties for the top 100 brands showed a collective total of almost 300 million Facebook fans, compared to approximately 148,000 Google+ followers for these same brands.

Looking at the figures today, the task ahead of Google+ seems insurmountable, but i suspect the gulf between Facebook and Google+ will fall as the connected battle gets into second gear, and Google has already announced a pilot program that will allow businesses and brands to manage their Google+ Pages using a number of third-party applications, including Buddy Media, Context Optional, Hearsay Social, HootSuite, Involver, and Vitrue.

The issue is not so much about Google+ catching Facebook, but about offering a viable and useful reason to have a Google+ page as well. We may see different verticals opting for different networks based on reach and audience in the future, but with these options brands have ever more increasing routes to listening and engaging with their communities.

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XBOX is 10 today

November 15th, 2011

Ten years ago today the XBOX launched in the U.S. to take on Sony’s popular Playstation gaming machine. Since then it has gone from strength-to-strength. Prior to this, Microsoft’s only other real gaming experience was Flight Simulator and Sidewinder joysticks.

The XBOX introduced Halo, which is also ten years old today. Other launch games included Dead or Alive 3, Amped, Fuzion Frenzy, Project Gotham Racing and Jet Set Radio Future.

Since its launch in 2002, XBOX Live has pulled in 35 million members. The XBOX was discontinued in late 2006, following the launch of the XBOX 360 in 2005, and now there is an estimated 57 million XBOX 360s out there and growing.

Video of the XBOX 1 Launch at NY Timesquare

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YouTube movie rental launches in the UK

October 11th, 2011

The US and Canada have already made full use of YouTube’s movie rental service, but now it’s finally the UK’s turn to catch up.

Most of the movies are priced at £2.50 or £3.50 for a 48-hour pass and buyers have 30 days to start watching the content.

YouTube also claim “Many movie pages also feature YouTube Movie Extras with free behind-the-scenes videos, cast interviews, parodies, clips and remixes from YouTube’s unique community of content creators. Over time we’ll also be adding additional videos and features to YouTube Movie Extras so that you can get even more into movies on YouTube.”

You can check out the current movie selection here

You can also watch the movies on Android devices and Google TV, which I suspect will play a major part of any future Google TV updates, when they are announced.

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$45 tablet launched

October 5th, 2011

A few weeks ago, I posted about a budget tablet launching, which was selling for just £129.00 called the Andy Pad. This week I can go one better and let you know about an Indian tablet called the “Akash” (”Sky”) which is priced at $45.00. The first 500 tablets will be handed over to Indian students after the launch.

Ministry spokeswoman Mamata Varma, confirmed:. “Initially, 700 Akash tablets will be made every day and we expect the production to pick up when more companies join in to manufacture the device,”

The specifications for the tablet are below.

• Running an Android 2.2 operating system
• 7 inch touch screen
• 32GB expandable memory
• 256-megabyte RAM
• Two USB ports
• Wi-Fi Internet access
• Video conferencing capability
• Internal media player
• Estimated battery life of 180 minutes
• 2GB SD memory card included

Would you purchase one for $45.00?

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Dealing with uncertainty, faster than light particles and the tumbling satellite

September 23rd, 2011

Life is great! I’m not certain about that as a general principle but tonight, it most definitely is.

It has been a most extraordinary week – we’ve just had some of the best lessons in how things change and how difficult it is to measure anything. How fragile and contingent everything is.

First, the Tumbling Satellite. Here’s a picture showing where it will hit the Earth. It made me laugh out loud, and for a long time. That’s a big area…shame it’s not coming down over England. I’d be 10 again and out looking for trophies with the gang.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15034073

The satellite-wobble uncertainty was good enough, and the uncertainty continues but it got much better last night (Thursday) when Italian scientists announced, with understandable reticence, that they had been measuring the speed of sub-atomic particles sent from CERN and found out weird, strange and frankly terrifying things.

I would have given all my worldly goods to have been there when the team finally drew fearsome conclusions from their measurement of the travel times of neutrino bunches. Some apparently travelled faster than the speed of light.

It was not meant to be this way. E=Mc2, right?

The exercise was for the CERN team to prepare a beam of just one type, muon neutrinos, and send them through the Earth to an underground laboratory at Gran Sasso in Italy to see how many showed up as a different type, tau neutrinos.

Not sure how that panned out – but, hey, the Italian team found something potentially much, much better. Faster than light? WOW!

If the data is right, and the event/result are reproducible, then we have just shifted into a new universe.

All that is solid melts into air… what this means for PR and marketing, one can only guess. But it will make a difference. And that’s why life is truly great, often.

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