British wireless and mobile provider O2 is running a holiday campaign complete with personalized messages from Santa on YouTube. Using the hashtag #O2santa, followers can tweet Santa a message they’d like him to read, and he will create and post a personal video on his YouTube channel in response. The aim is for followers to then share the video via social platforms, tweeting the personal message or emailing a link to the video. Read →
On July 26, the Seattle Police Department used its @SeattlePD Twitter account to post fragments of dispatch calls between 6am and 6pm – and in the process lost several hundred followers. This outcome, and the controversy around the Seattle PD Twitter campaign, stands in sharp contrast to a similar experiment conducted by the Greater Manchester Police in October 2010, which was declared a PR success with 11,000 followers gained and a global trending hashtag. Read our in-depth analysis of the Twitter campaigns and future social media plans for the Seattle PD and the Greater Manchester Police. Read →
New data from comScore measures the number of UK mobile users accessing social networks or blogs via their mobile device. In September 2011, 35% (or 17 million) of the total UK mobile audience accessed social networking sites or blogs via mobile. The majority of these mobile social networkers – 57% – accessed social networks on a daily basis. Read →
Smartphone owners around the world are rapidly adopting mobile for internet usage, according to new research from Google and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). While PC use for internet access is still prevalent, smartphones are increasingly popular for social networking, online video access, and even making purchases. Read →
A recent survey by Regus reveals that 47% of businesses successfully used social networks for customer acquisition in 2011, a 7% increase over 2010. The US was slightly behind this average, with 43%. Out of all the countries studied, China saw the greatest change in successful customer acquisition, rising from 44% in 2010 to 65% in 2011. Read →
The majority of mobile users snap pictures with their phone, according to recent data from comScore. See the breakdown across markets, with Spain in the lead. Read →
Youth marketing agency Dubit recently released a study of geolocation awareness and use among UK teens. Just over half (52%) of teens 11-to-18 in the U.K. are aware of geolocation services Foursquare, Facebook Places, Gowalla and SCNVGR. Of those who are aware, the majority (58%) “didn’t see any value” in using these services. Read →
A comScore report reveals that social media usage via mobile has experienced rapid growth in the UK within the past year. Read →
New data from 3GVision reveals that mobile barcode use worldwide is “on a path of exponential growth” with a 62% growth rate from Q4 2010 to Q1 2011. Barcode usage in the U.S. grew 182% from Q4 of 2010 to Q1 of 2011, and grew 630% year-over-year. Read →
Candytech, a Czech company that creates and measures Facebook marketing campaigns, has put together an infographic to show Facebook’s growth and population through 2010. The data is from Candytech’s statistics portal, SocialBakers, as reported via TechCrunch. Here are some highlights: Read →