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Social Media Digest – 05/04/13

The SEC ruling – A big day for social media?

Back in June 2012, Reed Hastings, CEO of on-demand entertainment streaming company Netflix, posted from his public Facebook account that Netflix customers had been consuming over 1 billion hours of content a month for the first time. The information contained in the post triggered Netflix shares to increase that day, resulting in multiple media outlets picking up on the story.

This resulted in an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission in America as a possible violation of the Regulation of Fair Disclosure, which states that that all publicly traded companies must disclose material information to all investors at the same time.  A final decision on the case was made on Thursday 4th April, a key quote from this ruling stated:

“The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a report that makes clear that companies can use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to announce key information in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure (Regulation FD) so long as investors have been alerted about which social media will be used to disseminate such information.”

So effectively companies are free to announce major news on social media as long as they inform investors that this is where announcements will take place. The big news is Facebook and Twitter have now become trusted and approved platforms for major announcements on the US stock market, giving increased credibility and importance. It is certainly a good day for social media and business and I think we can expect to see some large companies making similar statements on social media in the imminent future. Will other countries follow suit with a similar ruling? Let me know your thoughts in the comment box

The full report can be found here,

Anfield gets connected

Liverpool FC has announced they are to roll out free Wi-Fi for fans on match days , giving supporters unparalleled connectivity to digital content inside the stadium. Liverpool is the first club in England’s top flight to offer this service with Wycombe Wanderers announcing the same service in August 2012. The system, provided by Xirrus, is available to home fans only and will roll out initially on Sunday, April 7  in just the Centenary stand which has a capacity of 12,000. The Wi-fi will then be rolled out in phases across the remaining home sections.

Many football fans find themselves frustrated when trying to access the internet on their phones with the 3G or even 4G networks unable to handle the capacity in one place. Whilst being expensive to implement, controlling your own network in the ground gives access to priceless customer data as browsing can be tracked. With ticket prices still on the up, clubs are becoming more conscious of offering a quality match day experience and I can see more following suit in the near future.

#Facebook

Reports this week claim Facebook is beta testing hash tags, of course popularised by fellow social media juggernaut Twitter. The theory behind the introduction of hash tags is for Facebook to track real time content and breaking news just like Twitter is able to, this is hugely advantageous to their advertising offering, which is where social media companies generate huge proportions of revenue.

Personally I can’t fathom how this would be of any benefit to the average user, it’s a bit of a social media taboo to #tag on Facebook as it serves no real purpose other than to make you look a bit of an idiot. Even with a functioning #tag facility, how does Facebook plan to scrape users profiles for #tags when privacy is such an issue? This is after all one of the big definitions between Twitter and Facebook, Twitter is much more open and users access the site fully in the knowledge that what they tweet is viewable by all, Facebook on the other hand is sensitive for people and many have strict privacy settings applied. If true, it will be interesting to see if the hash tags make it through beta testing.

@Linkedin

It seems they’re all at it! Just like Facebook supposedly testing #tags, Linkedin has confirmed that it is trialing mentions exactly the same as those used on Facebook. Users would be able to tag businesses and connections into status updates and posts, with those mentioned sent a notification. A simple feature which only serves to increase the ways in which their users can engage or get ‘Linked in’ with each other (I’ll get my coat)

Social Media CV

Is the age of the paper CV  dead? No, but there are other options. With the job market being so competitive, canny candidates have been finding different ways to get noticed by employers for years, from buying billboards to putting your resume on a chocolate bar. A new service called Gozaik is offering a more social media based method for putting yourself on the job market. Users can create profiles with videos, links to social media profiles and highlight relevant experience for specific roles. The concept means employers can advertise for a position on the site and applicants are instantly able to get their personality across, something which is far more challenging on a standard CV.

Effectively it’s Linkedin, not so sure on this one to be honest, I like the idea but think it’s more likely to be used as a supplementary source of information for employers once they have made their shortlist from more traditional methods,it could however be another great utility for recruitment companies.