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Posts Tagged ‘Klout’

Social Media Digest: Google update, Twitter stories, Klout Criticism

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Welcome back to our weekly instalment of what’s hot in the world of social media. In case you missed what happened over the past week, here’s a run-down of our top five:

1. Google has just announced that it has updated its search algorithm to promote the latest relevant results where it makes sense to do so. The company explains “Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.” 35% of searches should be affected, Google says. These include, recent events or hot topics; regularly recurring events, and topics that are frequently updated.

2. Twitter has announced Twitter Stories, which is an online portfolio that Twitter will use to display stories about how single Tweets have affected its users. You can submit stories by mentioning mentioning @twitterstories or by using the hashtag #twitterstories, Twitter says to feel free to link to a photo or video and they will include those in the story. Twitter will then feature a selection of profiles every month. The site is already live with a nice selection of stories to check out:

3. Search engine Google is now indexing public comments made on websites that use Facebook, Disqus and other add-ons. The move means that all comments on any publicly visible website could show up in Google search results. Previously, search engines were unable to read comments because Facebook, Disqus and Intense Debate used programming that was not easy to read automatically. This meant that comments could play any part in a website’s search ranking. Now, however, the web tools that Google uses to trawl the web and index content are able to read comments that have been made using Facebook’s Connect add-in for other websites, as well as other equivalent services.

4. Just five companies control 64% of all online spending, with Google controls 46% in total. The others are Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and AOL. Here are the full results:

5. Following last week’s news that Klout had changed its algorithm for calculating social capital, there has been a groundswell of criticism against the site. CEO Fernandez responds to his critics here.

Tags: Facebook, Google, Klout, social media, Twitter
Posted in social media, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Social Media Digest: Klout Changes, Facebook Farm & YouTube Takedown

Friday, October 28th, 2011

Welcome back to our weekly instalment of what’s hot in the world of social media. In case you missed what happened over the past week, here’s a run-down of our top six:

1. Millions lost sleep this week with news that Klout (the social capital calculator) was changing its algorithm. The company insisted that many scores would go up, but that didn’t stop a small amount of negative reaction hitting social media channels. You can read more about the changes here. Suffice to say, at Umpf Towers we’re not quaking in our boots, but we’ll be working extra hard to break the magic 70 over the next few weeks.

2. This week saw the launch of the world’s first Facebook inspired cooker – or the ‘Facecook’ – as manufacturer Belling are calling it. Put simply, Facebook users have the unique chance for their profile pictures to appear on a specially designed cooker. By liking Belling UK’s Facebook page and liking the Belling Cooker app your profile picture will appear on the cooker’s photo montage. After the closing date for entries has passed, all images will be printed on to a specially created, unique Belling Classic Range Cooker. The cooker will be exhibited at the BBC Good Food show, so head down if you want to have a look.

3. In a small corner of the Baltic Sea, a mere 100km from the Arctic Circle, Facebook has announced it will build a new server farm. The small town of Lulea has been chosen as the location, creating about 70 – 90 jobs in the local area. Sweden’s network of high speed broadband, plus the general cold weather (used to keep the servers below critical temperature) has been cited as two of the reasons why the town was chosen.

4. Traditional English words such as ‘balderdash’ and ‘cripes’ are dying out thanks to the texting generation, linguists have claimed. Some 73% of people believe texts and website Twitter have dramatically changed the use of English, with long words falling out of use. The trends were revealed in a poll of 2,000 adults for the launch of JP Davidson’s book Planet Word. The book is a tie-in to Stephen Fry’s BBC2 series of the same name, charting the history of language from early grunts to tweets. The author said: “Language is always evolving and great descriptive words are being lost – but others emerge.”

5. The UK government asked Google to take down 135 YouTube videos for reasons of national security in the first half of this year, states Google’s biannual Transparency Report, released yesterday. The report also shows that the German government asked for videos that included Nazi memorabilia to be removed, and that US police wanted videos taken down because they showed their officers in acts of brutality. UK content removal requests went up 71 per cent compared to the previous six month period, when the government made no requests at all for content to be taken down on grounds of national security.

6. This week’s video is how to post a company status update on Linkedin, following recent changes to the professional online network:

Tags: Facebook, Google, Klout, social media, Twitter, YouTube
Posted in social media | No Comments »

Social Media Digest:Kred launch, Heinz Facebook and Hacking

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Welcome back to our weekly instalment of what’s hot in the world of social media. In case you missed what happened over the past week, here’s a run-down of our top five:

1. The BBC is planning a news gatherer app that will let ‘citizen journalists’ file stories directly from their phones, which can be on the air within minutes. Theoretically, the ”news gatherer app” will be able to feed user-generated content into the BBC’s content-management system, which is then edited by editorial staff and aired within minutes of submission. The app is scheduled to launch using the HTML5-based web language to minimise reliance on specific handset operating systems, such as Apple iOS or Google’s Android, although a roadmap for the product is unclear.

2. Heinz has launched a new Facebook app that enables fans of the Heinz page to send personalized messages, such as ‘Get Well Soon’ to friends and family, all printed within the iconic branding of a Heinz soup tin. Of course, the added bonus is that the recipient gets to eat the contents of the tin, which, if chicken soup, is bound to make them feel better instantly!

3. Peoplebrowser have launched a new indexing service called Kred, which it hopes will challenge the supremacy of Klout and Peerindex. Peoplebrowsr says that brands aren’t as interested in influence as they’re interested in reach. Kred creates a collective reach for a range of different topics, sorted by communities. For example, your Twitter Bio data is used to define communities and then Peoplebrowsr calculates a combined influence and outreach level score for that community.

4. News this week that technological pioneer and figurehead/founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, had died was the leading story for many of the world’s media. That many people read of his death using their iPhone, iPad or Macbook is testament to his influence and how much Apple has shaped the way we interact with one another and the world around us.

5. A survey has revealed that three out of every 10 teenagers have had their Facebook,Twitter or MySpace accounts hacked into – and almost half are left upset by the experience. Hackers have impersonated the people who own the profiles, or spy on them, by sifting through messages – and most of the time the victims know who has logged on as them. Interestingly, however, of those who have been impersonated and attacked a high number are not concerned by the breach of privacy, according to the research.

Tags: Facebook, Klout, kred, MySpace, PeerIndex, social media, steve jobs, Twitter
Posted in social media | 1 Comment »

Product Placement in the Celebrity Big Brother House 2011

Monday, September 5th, 2011

The oven in the Celebrity Big Brother House 2011 is a Belling BI60FP. And the hob? Well that’s a Belling IH60XI. Together, they’re landing on average 10 appearances per episode. Why do we know this? Belling is an Umpf client.

Belling in the Big Brother House

With Ofcom now allowing product placement on TV programmes made for UK audiences, the sector has turned into a big money business (PR Week’s feature on product placement is a good read) but free opportunities do exist.

We secured the Belling oven and hob into the Big Brother house without a product placement fee; clearly, a fantastic opportunity for maximum exposure with – our fees aside – zero third party cost.

Whilst the antics of the housemates can sometimes be questionable, the house interior is renowned for being cutting edge, quirky and luxurious which is something brands are keen to be part of.

And the results speak for themselves – as well as its nightly appearances on the show, the oven was featured in the official PR launch pictures for the new series on Channel Five and went on to appear across print and online media, including a ‘get the look’ piece in Heat magazine.

Belling in Heat Magazine

It’s no secret that PRs, TV production companies, celebrities, journalists and, more recently, bloggers have been working on a reciprocal basis for years. From clothes, jewellery, home appliances and cars, right down to the greetings cards that appear in the shops within our favourite TV soaps, there’s a whole host of opportunities for brand exposure in return for free product.

But the landscape is changing. Ofcom’s new rules may be have impacted the broadcast arena but social media has started its own revolution. Word of mouth now has an even bigger voice and it’s the men and women on the street that are coveting considerable power online, with bloggers and key Twitter users now also an influential target audience.

Klout and PeerIndex’s measurements of online influence have grown in popularity and respectability this year and as such both have launched ‘perk’ reward programmes which link brands and key online influencers.

From free test drives of new cars, advance screenings of new films and previews of new albums and novels, you no longer have to be a celebrity to get up close and personal with new products – just a decent Klout/PeerIndex score and influence in a particular field.

So whether it’s an appliance featured on the latest reality show, a celeb pictured wearing your product or physical products placed in the hands or key online influencers its clear that more than ever the opportunities for product placement are endless.

So where else have you seen our client’s products recently?

BBC Good Food and Breat British Bake Off’s Paul Hollywood:

Paul Hollywood in BBC Good Food for Stoves

Top food blogger, The Pink Whisk, raves about us too …

Tags: belling, Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother 2011, Channel 5, Klout, PeerIndex, product placement, Stoves
Posted in PR | No Comments »

Social Media Round-up of the Week – 15 July

Friday, July 15th, 2011

Welcome back to our weekly instalment of what’s hot in the world of social media. In case you missed what happened over the past week, here’s a run-down of our top six:

1. Twitter has changed the restrictions on sending direct messages (DMs) to other profiles. Formerly, you wouldn’t be able to ‘DM’ someone unless you were friends, but now Twitter has removed this to enable anyone with a profile to DM anyone else. Whilst we can think of a few positive reasons why the restriction has been lifted, many may not be so keen.

2. Microsoft yesterday accidentally revealed a test version of a social search service it has codenamed Tulalip, Winrumours reports. The site appeared at socl.com for a short time, a domain owned by Microsoft. The project is still meant to be under wraps and it commits many grammar and design sins (so we’ve been told), but it’s interesting to see that the company is trying its hand at social endeavors.

3. It was revealed this week that activity on Foursquare would affect Klout scores, but people are still a little confused as to how activity on the location-based platform would feed into the Klout algorithm. “We are still figuring this out,” Klout CEO Joe Fernandez told Mashable. “Obviously things like tips that turn into to-dos are interesting as is the ripple effect of a checkin through a network. In the next few weeks we’ll be testing and perfecting the algorithm.”

4. Google+ could be on the brink of reaching 10 million users after just two weeks, according to one researcher. Google has made several failed attempts to launch a social networking service in the past, but the initial response to Google+ suggests it will fare much better. Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com, has estimated the number of users on the service and predicts that Google+ is about to welcome its 10-millionth member, if it hasn’t already.

5. The British Medical Association recently issued a new guidance advising doctors not to accept friend requests from former and current patients because of how doctors’ personal information could be perceived and shared. “The accessibility of content on social media however raises the possibility that patients may have unrestricted access to their doctor’s personal information and this can cause problems within the doctor-patient relationship,” doctors wrote in the BMA guidance.

6. Our infographic of the week is all about fcommerce (above).

Tags: Facebook, foursqure, Google, Klout, social media, Twitter
Posted in PR | No Comments »