Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

sunday shorts

Sunday Shorts – Canada Day Edition

Canada Day

Here in Canada, today is officially Canada Day.

Celebrating the Constitution Act of 1867 (originally called the British North America Act), it’s the date that Canada became a country in its own right.

I’ve been here since Christmas 2006, and I’ve never met kinder people, enjoyed more beautiful open land, and simply appreciated the culture of this amazing country.

To celebrate in the style of this blog, I thought I’d share some quick and interesting stats on Canadians online.

Canadians Love Facebook

When 52% of a population is on Facebook, or just over 17 million users, you know it’s one of their favourites – and so it is with Canadians and the Big F. More than just 52% of the population, though, of Canadians online, more than 67% of them use Facebook. The largest demographic is 25-34, with over 4 million users, followed by the 18-24 age group. So I guess I should leave then.

Source: socialbakers

Canadians Love the Mobile Web

Of all the Internet users in Canada, one third of them browse from a mobile platform. 59% of these users are under the age of 35, with almost two thirds of them having been online for more than 10 years. The most popular manufacturer in Canada is Samsung (Android), followed by LG, RIM (BlackBerry), Apple and Nokia. Though with RIM’s curren woes, expect that to change drastically in the next 12 months.

Source: Stats Canada; comScore

Canadians Love Social Media, Full Stop

Maybe it’s the fact that Canada is such a wide open country, and you can go days without meeting another human (okay, maybe a wee exaggeration), but Canadians love the social web. From a report that Ipsos Reid carried out last year, it’s clear to see Canadians are very active online, and across all demographics.

  • 50% of all Canadians have at least one social network profile.
  • 45% visit a social media site at least once a week.
  • 32% of social media users have increased their time online for the previous 12 months.
  • 30% more Canadians are on Twitter than they were in 2010.
  • Linkedin usage has more than doubled in the last 12 months, accounting for 14% of Canadians online.

Source: Ipsos Reid

So, yeah – Canada loves the Internet. Oh, and they also make damn fine music – Happy Canada Day!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDRPtg0kmJU[/youtube]

Sunday Shorts – Being Strategic About Social Media Edition

Two years after social media really hit the mainstream, we’re still seeing people and companies fail to understand its importance and benefits.

The soundbites still doing the round are telling:

  • What’s the ROI of social media?
  • Why should I care?
  • Why do I need strategy when I can have a high Klout score instead?

These are just some examples – there are countless others, and they all point to a lack of education, understanding, explaining, etc.

Which is why this presentation from Richard Becker is probably one of the best I’ve seen, period, on what social media is and how it can play into your strategy. This quote alone sums up the issue perfectly:

The fundamental challenge for most organizations is that social media is one environment where messages work on a one-to-many, one-to-some, and one-to-one scale across multiple technologies at the same time in real time, but most communication-related professionals do not have this experience.

From personal experience, this is definitely one of the biggest reasons social media continues to be misunderstood by, and fails to bring success to, so many businesses.

Richard’s presentation offers a lot of the answers to the question of “why social media?”.

Enjoy. Oh, and if you want more smart stuff like this on a regular basis, make sure you subscribe to Richard’s blog – you won’t be disappointed.

Integrating Social Into Strategic Communication

Sunday Shorts – Facebook Edition

Facebook

It’s been quite the couple of weeks for Facebook – from the long-awaited launch of its IPO offering, to chief egg Mark Zuckerberg getting hitched, and the announcement of its own photo app just weeks after buying Instagram.

Here’s a short recap of what’s going on in Facebook’s world.

Was the IPO Really All That Bad?

By now, everyone and their mother will know that Facebook launched itself onto the publicly traded stage with a lot of fanfare and then promptly fizzled out. Shares in the social giant topped at around $42 (after coming out at $38) and are currently sitting around the $28 mark – losing a third of its value since the launch.

So a complete disaster, right? Maybe not a complete one. The IPO market when Facebook launched was a shaky one – Dealogic said six IPO’s were stopped before going public around the time of Facebook’s offering because of market conditions.

Additionally, last year there were only 80 IPO’s in the U.S.,which is a third of the number between 2004-2006.

Given that one in 10 IPO’s normally trade at least 20% below their offering price, and there’s still probably life left to reinvigorate Facebook yet before we call it a complete failure.

Counters and the Truth About The GM Pull Out

Part of Facebook’s shaky entrance into the public stock exchange was believed to have been the after-effect of the announcement that General Motors had pulled their Facebook ad campaigns to the tune of $10 million.

GM’s official take was that “the ads on Facebook have little impact on consumers’ car purchases.” The reactions were quick, with many pointing out the flaws in the ad model at Facebook for brands.

But how much of GM’s statement was a bigger issue for brands, and how much of it was down to GM’s failings themselves?

For example, while $10 million isn’t chump change by any standards, it pales in comparison to GM’s overall ad budget globally, which stands at $1.8 billion.

Then take a look at their big rival Ford, who wasted no time in piling on the agony for GM by saying their ads work just fine – because they have a strategy. Ouch.

Ford and Facebook

The most interesting part, though, is Facebook’s take on the matter. They claim that GM wanted full page advertising, as opposed to the more subtle Sponsored Stories approach that brands and advertisers currently use. Facebook said no, citing user experience as more important than GM’s budget.

If this turns out to be true, it’s a major win for Facebook in the eyes of their users, and a warning to brands that old school advertising isn’t welcome on their platform. Works for me.

Money Well Spent?

Short recap. Facebook buys photo app Instagram for $1 billion. Cue gnashing of teeth from Instagram users about the platform being ruined, and assurances from Facebook the app will be left alone. Looks like Facebook was right.

Shortly after the purchase of Instagram, Facebook announces its very own photo app, called Facebook Camera, whose features make it sound an awful lot like Instagram. So why bother purchasing them in the first place?

Simple – kill the competition and buy your way into the mobile market fast. Facebook’s mobile experience so far has been crap, to say the least, on all platforms. Their official Facebook app sucks, and many of the core features aren’t usable on third-party apps.

By buying Instagram, they take over one of the best way to share photographs on Facebook and combat Google’s easy upload feature to Google+ via that platform’s superior app.

Then, by announcing Facebook Camera, they now have a bona-fide app that will make the mobile experience on Facebook (and not just image sharing) a lot smoother than it currently is. Everybody wins – Instagram users keep their beloved app and Facebook users who don’t have Instagram get their own version.

So, quite the few weeks for Facebook, and this is bound to be just the start. Who says all the interesting stuff is happening over at Google+?

Game on.

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