Facebook leaves Myspace lagging behind.

In May 2008, Facebook’s total number of unique visitors surpassed that of MySpace and social media organisations the world over were silenced. Facebook had surfaced with a total of 123.9 million unique visitors. What had become of the social network that had a three year head-start? What had it done wrong?

Launched in August 2003, Myspace was the pioneer of social-networking sites, offering a free platform with no obligations. It encouraged users to customise their profile pages by entering HTML and musicians went a-wall when given the opportunity to share 6 MP3 songs. Currently over 8 million artists have been discovered on Myspace and there are those select few such as Lily (granted she does have a famous dad) and M.I.A who managed to propel themselves from Myspace haven to the global music domain.

Facebook had its inception in 2007 and offered many of the same features as Myspace including: banner ads, creating customized profiles and the ability to increase or decrease the level of visitor restrictions. However, it also features the Wall, Pokes, Photos, News Feed, Facebook Notes, Chat and Gifts and an ever-expanding number of applications. Eventually Myspace caught on to the photo tagging frenzy and were quick to add the option.

The most significant difference between the two websites is the level of customisation. Facebook presents a rather simple and easy to use interface which only allows plain text as opposed to HTML and CSS. Its ‘dummy-proof’ approach was a big winner with those less technologically inclined, who assumed Brazilian band CSS had collaborated with Myspace. It is especially popular with the adults.

In April 2009, it was found that a greater percentage of visitors aged between 25 and 34 and 35 and 49 were logging onto Facebook. In contrast, the highest indexing demographics on Myspace.com were people aged 18 to 24 and 12-17.

According to web information company Alexa, Facebook's ranking among all websites went from 60th to 7th from September 2006 to September 2007. In Indonesia it holds 1^st place, in the United Kingdom it is at 2^nd place and both the United States and Australia rank it at number 3.

The social influx from Myspace to Facebook is evidence that every social networking site is disposable and unless you stay relevant you will only get left behind.

Watch your back Twitter.

Freemium - Getting More Than We Deserve

Free media begins with: Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, Google, Blogger, Youtube, Myspace and every news and information website, yet it certainly does not end there.

The big question is: Do we take these gratuitous services for granted?

Do we still respect what is on offer, when the cost is nil?

The majority of people can afford to buy a newspaper yet decidedly choose not to. But then again, why would you when you can get the same thing for free, in digitalised format? Yet, although this media comes at no price, consumers still expect to receive top quality services. Therefore, in this day and age where these said media services are financed by endless advertising, the new transaction is time.

We are now basing our decision on whether a product is worth our 'time'. Time is the new form of currency that we consumers are safeguarding and sharing with those who manage to impress us, with those whom expect no financial benefits.

Time has become a pretty important factor, one of which many different companies are vying for.

So who is worthy of your time? Or more to the point, who is not?


Check out Harriet Denny's article on free media and the public's expectations at Media Week.

Picture also from Media week

Facebook - 2009's Pageant Winner, Wants Its Cash Prize

On 8 April, Facistbook's user content hit the big 200 million & it is feeling pretty smug.

However, over the past month there have been rather loud whispers concerning the company's plan to charge it's ever-growing fan-base a fee. That's right, very soon the currently free social networking service may be vying for your penny purse. Of course, there has been much skepticism about this diirty rumour, especially highlighted by the Facebook groups, which are dedicated to prematurely putting an end to any nasty behaviour.

Unfortunately, this month Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, indirectly alluded that such an occurance may be closer than, many of its 200 million socially savvy users, may think. Like a true business woman she referred to the success of the current advertising strategies, which are 'cash flow-positive', -Microsoft invested 240 million dollars- and firmly denied any future plans to charge 'a basic fee for its services'. She attributes the current concerns of Facebook's users to its fast growth, and again stresses that the company can 'finance their growth' without 'charging for basic services' [Business Week].

Right, so Facebook will not be charging users, for its BASIC services. So BASICally, Sandberg is covering all ends by choosing her words very very carefully. So the real question is: Please define 'basic services'. Although we are yet to be clear on this definition, one thing we can be sure of, is that those non-basic services which Sandberg ambiguously refers to, are the ones us 200 million devotees should be concered about.

An educated and informed guess would lead many to believe that although Facebook will not charge a subscription fee, there is a great chance that it will charge for those non-'basic-services', such as applications. Currently, there are some 50,000 applications cluttering our Facebook spheres and in March 2009 the alliance between social media site Facebook and Zuora, a company that provides an on-demand subscription billing and payment service [TechCrunch], was announced. I guess if the creators of the applications are making a bit of doosh, Facebook thinks it only fair, that it too should benefit.

Social Media Influx

Illustration by Matt Hamm

Kyan Media

Social Media is Written in Stone

I feel this blog is becoming home to my rants on technology and its effect. It's sheltering write-ups that shed light on the ever expanding realm, that is social media and the ramifications that its users (ie. us) are ignorant to.

But hey, life's all about the equilibrium. Right?

After reading Adam Ferrier's 'Social Media is Anti-social Media' [Consumer Psychologist] it made me think about the written word and how popular it is becoming. When I say written word, I really mean the typed word, that enters cyber-space through whatever social media site you subscribe to. Such sites are becoming increasingly popular with today's technology enthusiasts, ie. the generation of the noughties, so much so that an individual is more than happy to make their mark, but neglects to think of the consequences.

Social media sites, such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and even Blogger enable opinions to be heard. They are port-holes through which one can voice their concerns and sometimes make a difference. Of course one would have to go a step further than merely informing Sally Tyler about 'all the crazy things she may have done last night'. What I refer to is Facebook groups that attempt to gather like-minded people together for the good of the cause. In Ferrier's article, he refers to a group of NSW Corrective Services Officers who formed a facebook group which 'opposed the privatisation of Australia's prisons' and in turn may be reprimanded for their actions.

The officers advocate that creating the group is no different to heading to the local pub and having a gripe. The key difference, unfortunately, is that unintentionally these individuals have created evidence that has the potential to work against them. Everything that they have discussed in the casually created group puts them at risk of being fired. In an age where every man and his dog is hastily typing away and pressing submit, it does not help that the internet is 'unconstrained and indeed unconstrainable by state' [ETA]. No doubt the defamation laws are in over-drive.

Ferrier believes that these days everyone should be vigilant with what they decide to publish on the web, stating that such a way of life 'fosters a culture of nervousness'. Although I agree that those who share their opinions via the web should choose their words carefully, I do not believe that enough attention is being given to cause any apprehension. Instead, we are constantly inundated with new and improved ways of cyberally expressing our opinions that we are forgetting to approach with caution.

We are like kids in a candy store, with a credit card to boot; filling our lolly bags with every colour of the rainbow before stuffing them in our big -opinionated- gobs. However, we negelct to pre-empt that upset stomach, that understandably, follows in suit.

Due to the vast and sometime unexplored territory that is the internet I do not believe there is much the government can do to regulate what is 'said'. Instead, it is up to the individual whose finger tips are skipping over the keys, to decide which words should not be 'said'.

Twitter Explorers

It's not just us mere mortals using it to propel our meaningless lives into other people's hemispheres, but those mega corporations looking to boost themselves up. These global conglomerates are stacking their yellow pages, one on top of the other, and sitting their little hiney's down. Comfortable? Apparently so.

Here's just a few:

1.Barack Obama



2. CNN Breaking News



3. Stephen Fry (UK comedian)



4. Kevin Rose (Founder of Digg)



11.Lance Armstrong


14. New York Times

Twitter Explodes

Twitter is going nuts.

Quite literally every man and his dog, and their dog, and their dog has jumped on board.

So here we are, promoting ourselves to our heart's content.

Sam Smith is contemplating his 'mere existence in this concrete jungle'

and

Sally Porter 'ate sooooo many dumplings that now, she thinks she might just be one', but what about the big guns?

Celebrities are madly twittering in the hope that someone is watching. And they are.

Earlier this month, before an appearance on the Jimmy Fallon Show, UK comedian Russell Brand revealed that he, aka Rusty Rockets, would be twittering live on air. However, upon learning of his dismal 78,000 followers, compared to Fallon's 200,000, Brand urged anyone and everyone to become a follower. Guess he didn't want to look like a chump on live air.

To date, Jimmy stands at a staggering 510,489 while Brand falls way behind with a mere 155,669 followers.

Better luck next time Rus.

Add Russell on: http://twitter.com/rustyrockets
And Jimmy on: http://twitter.com/jimmyfallon

During the show, under the guise 'The Bryan Brickman Experiment' an 'unsuspecting' (yea right) audience member was targeted.



Late Night host Fallon along with Brand and two other guests urged the world to add @bryanbrinkman, who at that stage held claim to 7 followers.


Although the plan was to beat the most followed 'Twitterer' out there, President Obama who currently has 649,699 followers, cartoonist Brickman managed 32,931 followers. Either way, that's more than most!

This 'tiny' boost will most definitely aid in the creation of his cartoonist future. Three years from now he'll be working for Disney. Watch this space.

Celebrity gossip site, Holy Molly, conducted a study concluding that celebrities were using the micro networking site as a form of promotion, rather than as a social site. Well, DUH!
The study proved that Brand -already crowned the 'the ultimate shagger'- was also the 'most self-obsessed Twitterer'. Singer Lily Allen followed closely behind.

As it seems Facebook is no longer the party favourite, the photo-lovin' networking site recently unveiled their new layout, which seems suspiciously similar to that of Twitter.

Facebook Relationship 'Code of Conduct'

A very funny parody of the way Facebook has integrated itself into our relationships.

Found on Social Media Ltd.

Google L(aTtitude) and Bed(me)post

Those social networks and those 'not so'..

Continuing with the topic of social networking applications, I recently stumbled across Google Latitude. It's very similar to the application Twitter, a site that is purely dedicated to status updates; very similar to the feature found on Facebook; but Latitude takes it that step further.

Google Latitude is more like a tracking device, a device that tells other subscribers your exact location and even provides images/maps, at your discretion. However, Google do promise that the user has complete control over how much information is released. Hell, you can even say your somewhere you're not.

Check our this great site Another Advertising Wanker and its write-up on the application:

'Social. To be, or not to be?'

Really does just show how society's voyeuristic needs are only increasing and that there are those who are only happy to keep the "beast's" hunger at bay. You know what they say: 'Supply those who demand'.

A further note for those whose 'little black book' is weighing them down. A program called 'Bedpost', which is anything but a 'social' site, allows you to keep track of those you 'bed', where you bed them, and an overall rating. Pretty neat, huh?

Jesus 'they' will stop at nothing.

Curious? Bedpost

For statistics sake, it would be rather interesting. However, rather than play the waiting game, if there are any nymphomaniacs out there who would like to volunteer and attack any lasting shreds of dignity, let me know.

It's even compatible with iPhone! YAY.

Facist Book

Facebook has become a form of communication. It can be likened to other communicative verbs such as 'to text', 'to phone', and 'to write'. So these days a simple 'facebook me' is more than suffice.

Since its launch in Feb 04 it's slowly become the word on everyone's lips, it's integrated into their lexicon, and it ain't even in the dictionary, yet. Sooner or later when that time comes for the Oxford English Dictionary to update, to scrawl through our linguistics, and submit their final list, founder Mark Zuckerberg will be the proud father of his 'spawn'. Go figure.

[The general rule of thumb for the Oxford English Dictionary is that any word can be included which appears five times, in five different printed sources, over a period of five years.]

The world (currently 150 million users) is going crazy for this social networking site; a spin-off of a Harvard University program called 'Facemash'. Thousands of photos are being uploaded hourly; 'friends' are clicking through your photo albums and reading your wall posts. Others are obsessively trawling through 'friend lists' trying to 'up' their own.

A general belief is that, although your personal life is living on the World Wide Web, only you know the password and therefore only you are in control of your privacy. Wrong. As much as we'd all like to believe this idealistic mantra, it's so far from the true. The words 'private' and 'Facebook' are like chalk and cheese, an oxymoran if I've ever heard one. Once you've uploaded it, it's for the world to see.

And now things have gotten even more complicated.

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and presume that a small percentage, of the 150 million Facebook users, have never read its 'Terms of Service'. I'm going to take a step back and assume just as many, or more, don't even know what a 'Terms of Service' or 'TOS' is.

Facebook's Terms of Service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not that long ago, this sentance was added:

"You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."

As you can imagine there was a lot of protest against this, and in response Zuckerberg and co. reverted back to the original clause; that is until a solution can be found..

2008 U.S Presidential Election

So it ends tonight... and finally there were two.

The Republican nominee John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, and the Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama have sweat blood and tears to make it up this Presidential mountain. But to claw their way past Sarah, Hilary and Co. they have had a little help from their friends, foes and frenemies.

On Team Obama there is: Winfrey, Eva, DeNiro, The Fresh Prince, Usher, and on Team McCain; Italian stallion Sylvester and the Californian Governator Arnie.

We all know Winfrey has been endorsing her man in her many speeches, but have you seen Black Eyed Peas' singer Will.i.am's vids; 'Yes We Can', staring celeb fans including Scarlett J or 'We Are The Ones' with Ryan Phillipe and Jessica Alba?


'YES WE CAN'





AND THEN..

there's meat-head Arnie egging on a mass of McCain supporters, with childish insults and unsubstantiated comments, where 'scrawny' Obama and his skinny frame are likened to that of the Senator's ideals.


Halloween masks

Strolling through his Hyde Park neighborhood, on 31/October, Barak O would have had quite a ball bumping into his plastic self. Quite a few Kaufman/Malkovich moments I'm sure.

The Obama mask out-sold his rival's, two to one.

Seriously, these publicists must be on over-drive. Working like dogs day in and day out, spinning up stories, campaigns, you name it.

But as they say,

Any publicity is GOOD publicity, just ask Paris Hilton (see One Night in Paris).

On the eve of the US Election day Obama's grandma passed away. Photos flooded the internet, of the grandson wiping away the streaming tears that symbolised his 'sincerity' and stripped him.. down to his jocks.. for all the world to see. No iron armor, just RAW emotion.

A publicist's wet dream indeed.