Abrams Research Blog

Although social media has been used by the likes of students and musicians for almost a decade (oh hey, MySpace!), only within the last few years has it been embraced by international and corporate communities. The late ‘aughts’—is that what we’re calling them?—brought about a social media explosion, pushing us into 2010, where its popularity continues to grow, monitoring and analytics technologies have been vastly improved, and social media-based marketing reaches becomes the norm. What a perfect time, then, to discuss where social media is headed!

This week, an interesting article by Freddie Laker in AdAge featured 11 social media predictions for 2012. Ranging from the obvious—product/venue ratings becoming the norm—to the more extrapolated—social media augmented reality overtaking reality as we know it—Laker offers a comprehensive overview of what 2012 could really be like, assuming, that is, that the earth isn’t destroyed by the apocalypse. Here’s a quick rundown of his most interesting/important points. read more »

You’ve heard it before: “Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth.” But for Wikipedia, too many cooks may not be such a bad thing. Common sense recognizes the collective wisdom of the group; the more who contribute, balance and check, the (hopefully) better the final outcome. Common sense also dictates that a website whose traffic dominates Yahoo, Google and MSN should be taken seriously.

To test the “Wikipedia Effect” (how public opinion forms a Wikipedia article and how Wikipedia affects search engine results), Marcia Watson DiStaso and Marcus Messener of The Institute for Public Relations analyzed the wiki’s influence on the social media platforms of 10 of the most visible U.S. companies.

What did they find? read more »

What do one-third of Stanford iPhone users have in common? No, it’s not their type A personalities; they’ve all expressed fear of becoming addicted to their iPhones. Not such a surprise, considering the iPhone supplies access to the three things undergraduates need most: music, phone and CampusFood.com. So for those unlucky Stanfordians the following will be exciting and terrifying à la fois: Apple may decide to try its hand at location-based services. That’s right, as of last week, Apple is seeking a patent for a proprietary social mobile network tool, aptly (or unfortunately—how over the iMotif are you?) named, “iGroups”. read more »

“‘If they’re not on Facebook or Twitter, then they aren’t in touch with the “electronic” people.’ Female 55-59″

Companies, take heed! This survey respondent knows what she’s talking about.

According to a study of over 1500 consumers by research firms Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies, 67% of consumers are more likely to buy products from the brands they follow on Twitter, and over 50% more likely for brands on Facebook. As favorable as those results sound, they’re not the final word.  Capitalizing on the, well, social nature of social media, it was also found that once becoming fans, consumers are 79% more likely than before to recommend their follows to a friend on Twitter, and 60% more likely on Facebook. Although Chadwick Martin Bailey did not extend its research to the purchasing power behind this “second-hand” interest, it seems unlikely that researching a brand’s social media presence would have a negative impact upon someone’s opinion.

Unless the company has no social media presence at all. read more »

So Twitter now features location-sharing. Surprise! We all saw it coming, especially as this week’s South By Southwest Festival was fast approaching. And as great minds think alike, we should probably expect each social media giant to reveal its own geolocation features, adding yet another layer to the competition for market dominance. Until then, we’re left to ponder geolocation’s infamous underlying issue: privacy. Because as social media becomes an even more normalized part of our society, we find ourselves faced with unprecedented challenges to the security of our information.

Let’s start with the basics. What, exactly, is internet privacy? And why does it matter? read more »

Foursquare and Gowalla. One, a fantastic childhood game. The other, an offshoot of a popular smoothie brand? Nope! They’re both big names in the newest social networking trend—geolocation. The progression makes sense: profile viewing led to wall posts, which led to to status updates, eventually leading to status updates on your mobile device, which could only logically lead to where we find ourselves today—in love with physical location updates. And word on the street is that these location-based services, though still relatively under the mainstream radar, are here to stay. But nothing this interesting stays a secret for long, and starting this weekend we may see the beginning of the end: this year’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi), running March 12-16 in Austin, Texas, will be the “ strategic playing field” for the current geolocation forerunners.

So what’s the attraction?   read more »

For today’s post, let’s first take a trip back to London, 1910:

“Mary Poppins: Now! Shall we get on with it?

Jane: Get on with what?

Mary Poppins: In your advertisement, did you not specifically request to play games?

Jane: Oh, yes!

Mary Poppins: Very well then. Our first game is called ‘Well Begun is Half-Done’…

Michael: I don’t like the sound of that.

Mary Poppins …otherwise entitled, ‘Let’s Tidy Up the Nursery’”.

Michael:  I told you she was tricky!”

Ah the British… so neat, so orderly, so astoundingly capable, with a clever phrase and an affected accent, to make something so ordinary and unpleasant sound so intriguing. So who better than the practically perfect Mary Poppins to personify the recent decision by the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to clean up internet advertising practices and regulate marketing and brand activity on social media websites? read more »

Sorry, kids. If you thought that friend request from your mom was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. According to a 2009 study by the Continuum Crew communications firm, last year saw a “dramatic rise” in the amount of time your parents and grandparents spend using the internet and social media platforms. Gone are the days of “facespace” and the “webernet”; that vast generational gap may not be growing as quickly as we think. Bad news for the teenage set, but great news for almost anyone else.

The shift in media consumption that Generations Baby Boomer (1946-1954) and Jones (1955-1964) are currently undergoing is a product of the realization that news coverage is readily available through the internet, often at a speed, depth and breadth unavailable from traditional media sources. Though younger generations have unhesitatingly embraced this idea for more than a decade, older generations have, until recently, relied upon the mediums of their youths—newspapers and television networks.

However, this last year has shown a remarkable change in direction. In Continuums’ study, the number of Baby Boomers reporting an increase in internet use rose 24 percentage points between 2008 and 2009, and a majority indicated that the internet, as opposed to the cell phone, is now the media service they would be least likely to give up. Even more telling: the majority of these users have only joined in the last six months. read more »

It’s the age of cyber-crime, and has been ever since Sandra Bullock starred in The Net circa 1995.   Criminal prowess has only grown since then, with sophisticated hackers threatening the safety of all, from personal bank accounts to government informational systems. It would seem counterintuitive, then, for the United States military to embrace social media platforms, which are infamously noted for their ever-evolving (i.e., highly vulnerable) security regulations. Yet, with Friday came the announcement that the military will install a default policy allowing access to social media networking sites from non-classified military computer networks.

What does the new policy entail? All military units will be required to open access to networking sites, and any restrictions must be temporary. For the Army and Marines, which currently enforce restrictions and/or bans against most social networking sites, blanket regulations must be lifted. However, the policy leaves discretion to unit commanders, who, if uncomfortable with social networking, maintain the right ‘defend against malicious activity’, which will ultimately involve restricting access according to preference and circumstance (special operations, etc). read more »

After the launch of Google Buzz and your personal information’s unexpected debut into high society, you may be tempted to conclude that February has not been the best of months for social media. But rest assured, Google is Google and with enough consumer ire the kinks will be worked out and your focus will eventually shift back to where it should be, on Google Logos.

In the meantime, there has been some good news for Twitter. The best being, of course, that the Dalai Lama now has a Twitter account. So with the Vatican, the Dalai Lama (and as of February 22, Lil’ Wayne) all official members, the implications of this exponential growth become clearer. According to the Neilson Company’s recent report, social media use has grown 82% in the last year alone. Twitter boasts 50 million messages a day, up from 5,000 in 2007. Someone is obviously paying attention. read more »