Hitwise has reported in a Tweet that Google+ gained 49m US users in traffic last month (December 2011) which equates to a 55% increase from traffic to the social network site in November where it achieved 30m which was up 20% on the previous month of October 2011.

Hitwise also linked to this pretty grainy chart in their Twitter post, showing the rise in Google+ traffic since its launch.

Should Google be Happy with these traffic figures?

We’d imagine Google will be pretty pleased with these figures. 49 million US visitors would, since the naysayers (such as us) turned their noses up at the site on launch. Yes Facebook gets this traffic before breakfast on any given morning, but Google+ is a spring chicken compared to Facebook. Plus if you regard Google+ as a bookmarking site of sorts, then 50million is more than Digg was getting in its prime.

However, this isn’t just some start-up launching a new site. This is Google. There is Google+ icon on every Chrome browser and search result in their search engines. The site was launched with massive fanfare with great expense. Webmasters everywhere have been led to believe that their sites need to have a Google+ icon if it is to succeed in SEO. 50million visitors by month 6, may in fact therefore be far less than Google had hoped.

But we will wait and see if there is a decline in how much traffic Google+ gets in the coming months when the honeymoon period wears off.

When we are all old and grey and watching BBC17′s “The Best Things of the 21st Century” the year 2011 will probably be highlighted as the year Social Media really hit the mainstream.

Everywhere we look there are representations of social media (and told about how big it is). And it’s no real wonder, half the population is on Facebook and it is due to be floated for an eye-watering $100billion in 2012 (already giving Bono $800m profit). Social Media really isn’t new any more, it’s here and it’s absolutely massive.

Social Media and Politics

2011 saw social media have a real impact on global news as well as on the worldwide lexicon. At about the same time that The Social Network was winning Oscars and Golden Globes the countries of North Africa and the Middle East were starting to call for regime change in what has become known as the Arab Spring. Social Media outlets such as You Tube, Facebook and Twitter were utilised to make these calls, highlight the plight of the people and gain media momentum from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya through to Yemen and Syria.

Because of this, Libya became the fastest growing country on Facebook for the second half of 2011.

2011 also saw the release of Wiki-Leaks which spread rapidly through social media, this placed as one of our favourite campaigns of the year.

London Riots and Social Media

Here in the UK we had our own mini-uprising. Violence, looting and riots took place on the streets of London, Manchester, Bristol and beyond. The blame by some was put conveniently at the door-step of social media, many of those same observers felt that social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook should even be switched off in times of emergency. Yes social media is an extremely useful way to get information to a large source quickly, but you can’t blame a communications device for social ills. These extraordinary knee-jerk arguments were quickly put into perspective when social media was used help with the clear up of the riots as well as belittling some of those that were involved.

Social Media for Sky1 Got To Dance

For IP we had an amazing start to the year offering 24-7 live social media interaction for Sky One’s flagship show Got To Dance. People would tweet or make comments on Facebook and seconds later the IP team were feeding the information through to the show’s presenter Davina McCall. It was an extremely rewarding and innovative experience.

That experience in part got me, Sam Silverwood-Cope, invited onto the BAFTA jury for Digital Interactivity award, which Davina won with Million Pound Drop.

Since working on that show and others for ITV, we have kept a close eye on TV and its presence in social media. It seems to be everywhere. Every primetime show has a “Follow Us” on Twitter or use “The Hashtag”. If you saw Kirsty’s Allsop’s Homemade Home show, a social media call to action came up every 5 minutes. Our hints and tips were also used in Broadcasting magazine on this very subject in response to the Twitter COO.

Social Media in 2012

Hopefully in 2012 Social Media will mature a bit, get over the amazement of how big it really is, and get on with making quality dialogue. High level campaigns will excite us all and really aid business growth at the same time. This year has been a bit of a land grab amongst agencies, with little understanding or real explanation.

We predict that Facebook will continue to thrive but businesses may move on to something new. Plus watch out for the ever-powerful blogosphere, they are the new media giants – Facebook may be the blue whale but the blogosphere is the great barrier reef.

Forrester US Interactive Marketing Spend

Forrester research carried out in the field in August 2011 opens by estimating that advertisers will spend US$ 77 billion on interactive marketing by 2016. That is as much as they spend on Television advertising today. They estimate that search, display, mobile, email, and social media will grow to 26% of all advertising spend as they become embedded in the marketing mix.

Forrester make the interesting prediction that this growth in digital marketing will help companies become adaptive, killing off daily discount deals, re-emphasizing the four marketing P’s of Product, Price, Place and Promotion and in doing so turn consumer electronics into audience-targeting tools.

Forrester believe that the key drivers of growth over the next five years will be:

• Bigger interactive teams. Marketers have more interactive staff now than they did in 2009. This doesn’t automatically mean more mature interactive programs or increased budgets. But it usually allows for program expansion. One financial services firm we talked with grew its interactive team from 18 to 70 people in three years. Now it is a top advertiser on many display networks, has tripled its email marketing volume, and has a social PR effort under way.
• Excitement about emerging media. Marketers buy into mobile, social, or online video more now than when the recession forced them to stick with standby interactive tools like email or search. Revenues from PR Newswire’s multimedia products are up 22% this year, compared to 2009 when they were down 3%. And Intuit has a group dedicated to transforming cutting-edge technologies like Kinect into mainstream marketing options. 
• Interactive marketing effectiveness. Marketers will invest more in interactive channels because they believe they will generate better results over time (see Figure 2). David Schwartz, marketing manager for power tool manufacturer STIHL Limited, explains, “People will spend on programs that show measureable returns. And you can measure anything through digital.”

The impact of Facebook on the Arab Spring

We heard during the revolutions of the Arab Spring that everyday people were using the social network (as well as YouTube and Twitter) to post their videos and their commentary on the events that unfolded.

Facebook groups were being set up across Egypt, Tunisia and Libya criticising the respective governments and voicing the opinions of the people. Facebook was used as a sound board for the people’s plight, especially when the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria were attempting to control conventional media and journalistic freedom. Facebook was utilised to get over any such censorships and voice the opinions of the people on the frontline to the rest of the world. It all started in Tunisia as explained in this piece in The Guardian:

“Ourselves. Our revolution. We put it on Facebook. It’s how we tell the world what’s happening.” a Tunisian revolutionary in Tunis. 

In Egypt, which, unlike Syria, allowed the outside media into the tourist-rich country, the social networks were censored via a cessation of broadband via the providers such as Vodafone.

Though these rises in the Arab Spring affected countries is large, all have started from relatively low levels. However, due to the impact the social networks have had on Tunisia, Libya and Egypt usage will almost certainly continue to grow where broadband and freedom of access is allowed.

Below is a chart showing the 20 countries within which Facebook has grown the most over the last 6 months.  The countries in this list are most notably war-torn or financially emerging nations plus the anomaly of Japan, which is simply a late adopter.

Countries with Fastest Facebook Growth 2011

#	Country	Users	Change	Growth over last 6 months	Penetration
1	Libya	316460	+270 520	588.86%	4.90%
2	Chad	34040	+18 660	121.33%	0.32%
3	Papua New Guinea	65260	+31 540	93.53%	1.10%
4	Laos	109180	+51 720	90.01%	1.56%
5	Vietnam	2893200	+1 331 420	85.25%	3.23%
6	Swaziland	47680	+20 140	73.13%	3.52%
7	São Tomé and Príncipe	3380	+1 360	67.33%	1.92%
8	Brazil	30453260	+12 140 520	66.30%	15.14%
9	Equatorial Guinea	16400	+6 440	64.66%	2.52%
10	Japan	5241440	+1 890 090	56.40%	4.13%
11	Somalia	34020	+11 660	52.15%	0.34%
12	Angola	303280	+101 780	50.51%	2.32%
13	Iraq	1174300	+384 040	48.60%	3.96%
14	Kiribati	3740	+1 220	48.41%	3.31%
15	India	38045000	+12 282 580	47.68%	3.24%
16	Democratic Republic of Congo	836940	+266 180	46.64%	1.18%
17	Cambodia	412360	+130 980	46.55%	2.80%
18	Mozambique	169120	+53 380	46.12%	0.77%
19	Niger	40240	+12 320	44.13%	0.25%
20	Mongolia	236520	+71 380	43.22%	7.66%

Facebook growth India, Brazil and Japan

Remarkably three of the world’s biggest economies are in the fastest growth nations on Facebook.  Japan who are relatively late adopters of Facebook compared to south east Asian partners, only have 5m Facebook users with a pretty measly 4% penetration of population, which is less than Mongolia. This growth therefore is one of acceptance of the westernised social network over other local competitors, rather than simple access to broadband.

Then there are the emerging economic powerhouses of Brazil and India whose vast populations are still mostly unconnected to the internet, it seems when they do get connection they rush to sign up to the Social Network as around 40% of internet users in both these countries are on Facebook.

At this rate of growth India will be the number one country on Facebook (most represented) within 3 years, which will surely have an impact on how we all use the social network. However, by that time will the early adopters of the western world have moved on to something new as we are already seeing?

Tags: Facebook Usage Libya, Facebook usage India, Facebook Usage Brazil, Facebook Usage Japan, Facebook Usage Tunisia, Facebook Usage Europe, Facebook Statistics

Without Trust a Business is doomed for failure

There is both a business and moral requirement embedded in being effective and efficient. It ensures that a company’s stakeholders and customers are served well and that their needs are provided for. Trust is inextricably linked to the delivery of a promise. If a company promises one thing and delivers another it is doomed to failure.

Trust is also about building relationships. Can a company be insightful by seeing people as just data, segmented into crude groupings with superimposed attitudes and behaviour? Is this the way to build relevant and rewarding relationships? Many companies do and build successful brands. However, is loyalty compromised through this objective relationship and how much more successful can they be by building an emotional relationship between the company, the brand, and the customer?

Understanding customer needs is Central to a Brand’s survival

People are emotionally connected, responding to transparency and honesty. These qualities build trust and engender loyalty. Take the case of Unify, published in a Forbes magazine article. The software company based in Sacramento, California, was a hair’s breadth away from bankruptcy in 2000. A former CFO, Todd Wille, was called back into the company and had 90 days to fix the problem before the money ran out.

Wille put the focus not on budget slashing, though that had to be done, but on building staff and customer confidence through a dialogue that was built upon integrity and honesty. He appointed the head of customer service to the position of Sales VP because customers knew him and trusted him. He encouraged the sales team to call customers every week to hear their concerns and to ask for patience and to reassure them. In addition he asked his development team to produce new products based on customer needs gained from those sales conversations. Wille knew that understanding customer needs was central to the company’s survival. He turned the company around by listening to staff and customer needs and forming solutions tailored to satisfying them.

The resulting actions built a company that is now three times larger and has been rated as one of the world’s most admired companies.

Creating Dialogue through Social Media

At the centre of Wille’s strategy was an understanding of the power of dialogue, of getting people on side through engagement. He empowered people, staff and customers alike, and created an environment of trust.

I have no doubt that today Wille would have employed social media techniques to help him in his dramatic turnaround. He would have benefited from listening to the Internet traffic on Twitter and sent reassuring Tweets. He almost certainly would have posted a video to his customers creating a direct personal link, building integrity and authenticity, like Arnold Schwarzenegger did when Governor of California, in a shirt sleeved, unscripted video, to thank his followers for sending tweets on how to reduce government waste. This is the power of body language.

Building Brand Trust through Social Media

In a Mashable blog by Greg Ferenstein, he recounts how he sat down with the psychologist Professor Judy Olson to discuss the essentials of building trust with digital communications. Olson found, through her extensive research, that responsiveness is the key. In email, Linkedin, and Facebook messages much of the markers of trust, such as voice intonation and body language, are hidden. Olson found that when only text is used, participants judge trustworthiness based on how quickly others respond. For example, acknowledging a Facebook message quickly is better than waiting to respond more fully later; wait too long and you will be deemed to be unhelpful.

Social Media = Trust. Trust = Loyalty. Loyalty = Greater spend

When expectations are not met, it has a direct effect on customer spending and a powerful impact on trust. The need for transparency, honesty, and trust is essential if brands are to retain customer loyalty.

We know through experience and hard data that during times of economic hardship customers are less brand loyal. They will seek out lower priced brands with a return to their original brand choice uncertain, once economic conditions become more favourable. With a loss of loyalty comes the loss of referral.

In the 2011 Temkin Trust Rating, 6,000 US consumers were asked how much they trusted different companies. From the data 143 companies across 12 industries were rated. After the publication of the rating Temkin decided to “run the numbers” and analyse how trust relates to one element of loyalty: the likelihood to recommend. He found that consumers who trust companies are likely to recommend those companies, but they won’t recommend those that have not earned their trust. (See chart below from temkinratings.com).

Customer Trust by Industry Sector 2011 USA

In the Social Media era building trust is a multilayered process and depends upon the mindset of the company, its desire to anticipate need and with that its focus on customer satisfaction. The foundation for lasting success of any company is building trust between its customers and its brands and services. Dialogue is central to this, as Todd Wille demonstrated at Unify, as is the important adjunct to dialogue, responsiveness, as uncovered by Judy Olson.

These are the qualities that make social media a tool for our times, a democratic channel for a relevant and insightful dialogue. For many companies, it may be that dialogue is the only trustworthy currency in this turbulent economic climate.

I’ve been casually editing Wikipedia pages for a few years and encourage people at IP to do as much as possible. If they see a dodgy link, a typo or more importantly some spurious content that isn’t justified, then they should get in there and tidy it up.

With this bit of knowledge we know how hard it is to create the perfect Wikipedia page.

Due to its openness Wikipedia content can change and reform into an abomination, especially if the wikipedia spammers and vandals take hold of your page. Plus I personally have a non-deletion attitude, giving everyone as much chance to add to their favourite topics as possible.

So I know from experience that a brilliant Wikipedia page is pretty hard to put together. That is why I sit in awe and read the Rugby World Cup 2011 Wikipedia page and think to myself, is this the best Wikipedia page ever?

The Best Wikipedia Page Ever

Yes the Best Wikipedia Page ever is The Rugby World Cup 2011 page.

Brilliantly assembled over about 4 years, the page offers everything you could possibly want.

Everything possible is there and during the World Cup in New Zealand it probably quadrupled in size.

The best feature, amongst all the great features, is the central image around all the stadia and venues for the cup. But arguably all the stats and fixtures lists, which are a complete pain to put together are beautifully styled and constructed.

Wikipedia Traffic for Rugby World Cup 2011

During August, September and October The Rugby World Cup Wikipedia page accrued over 1.1million views with daily peaks of around 50K views. See chart below for September.

But traffic isn’t everything. As mentioned the styling, the thoroughness but brevity of content is superb, and so difficult to achieve on Wikipedia. So for everyone that helped compile this Wikipedia page and edited it beautifully, we salute you.

We have already written about the good relationship Twitter and live TV has together, then if you mix in pop music and the younger audiences, then Twitter is the ideal medium for the X-Factor stars to interact with their fans. It’s also a pretty good way for us to see which one has the fan base to take this year’s crown.

If the number of X-factor finalist Twitter fans has anything to go by on who wins X-Factor, then the X-Factor finalist Frankie Cacozza with 166,000 Twitter fans after just the first week is looking a good bet. Frankie already has almost half the official X-Factor’s own Twitter fan numbers. Second place so far is Janet Devlin who after singing Cold Play in week one has charmed her fan base. What is surprising is 2Shoes with 34,000 followers, they were dropped after week one but still have very impressive numbers. The older performers and the groups are far behind the girls and boys in terms of numbers. If Twitter has anything to go by Rhythmix should watch their backs.

We’ll be tracking the X-Factor finalists twitter accounts throughout this year’s series and show their progress and fan numbers.

X-Factor finalists on Twitter

Here are the X-Factor finalists on twitter accounts and fan numbers in order of most fans first.

1. Frankie Cacozza on Twitter – @FrankieCocozza 166,065
2. Janet Devlin on Twitter – @JanetJealousy 83,305
3. Amelia Lily on Twitter – @AmeliaLilyOffic 49,047
4. Craig Colton on Twitter – @CraigColtonUK 44,035
5. Marcus Collins on Twitter – @MarcuscollinsUK 42,806
6. 2Shoes on Twitter – @2shoesOfficial 34,684
7. The Risk on Twitter – @theriskoffic 28,336
8. James Michael on Twitter – @thejmichael 26,110
9. Nu Vibe on Twitter – @nuvibeoffic 24,559
10. Misha B on Twitter – @mishaBRYAN 24,039
11. Sophie Habibis on Twitter – @sophiehabibis 17,392
12. samantha brookes on Twitter – @SamiBrookesXfac 14,193
13. Kitty Brucknell on Twitter – @kittybrucknell 13,255
14. Jonjo Kerr on Twitter – @Jonjosephkerr 9,703
15. Rhythmix on Twitter – @rhythmixoffic 7,744
16. Johnny Robinson on Twitter – @jrmusicoffic 7,123

The following is taken from Broadcast Magazine 27th August 2011. 

Twitter gives pointers to TV Companies

Twitter director of business development Glenn Brown has outlined best practice principles for TV show producers wanting to make the most of the burgeoning social network.

Brown said the site’s success was based on the “human instinct” to ask “did you just see that?” when they watch something “that blows their mind”.

That means that Twitter is “great at building shared, live experiences” where people “show up and talk at the same time”.

“It’s not about PVRs or watching things back, it’s turning back to the past, but with a twist,” Brown said.

He outlined four basic rules that helped maximise viewer engagement:

• Include the hashtag on air;
• Use a creative call to action for the hashtag;
• Showcase talent handles on screen;
• Ask talent to live tweet during the show (whether live or recorded).

He acknowledged the rules were simple and gave some examples of how they work. The MTV Music Video Awards used an on screen call to tweet using the IfBieberMetGaga hashtag, which he said was much more engaging than simply using #VMAs.

He also said that tweets from talent could build engagement during a show, even if it had been recorded. The tweets in that case are like “a director’s commentary on a DVD”, he said. “Think about the best party you’ve ever been to. Why was it so great? Was it the venue; the mix of guests; was the host an expert or a great guide? Was there a detail about the party that was really thought out? Was there someone great that you met; or something that you could take away, like a gift?

IP Response to Glen Brown’s comments: 

How TV Shows can get so much more from Twitter

All the pointers that Glen Brown the Director of Business Development of Twitter made were good and very true, but having interesting hashtags and pushing it on air will not always get the programme trending.

It’s true that Twitter lends itself to live television viewing perfectly, it needn’t “blow your mind” to get trending. For example at the moment of writing, Lidl is trending, as Jedward from Big Brother are apparently shopping there.

Some shows do brilliantly on Twitter, others not so well. Many pre-recorded shows that could be ideal for Twitter are not supported simply because the production is aired after 5.30pm. Or there’s soulless tweets from someone who seemingly isn’t even watching such as “So what did you think of that then?”, which is worthless. Other shows have nothing some days, then a torrent on others, this presumably is because the freelancer only works a couple of days a week.

Give something back to the Twitter Audience

Production teams should decide early on whether the show is to be supported by Twitter presence and resource it accordingly as well as asking “what’s in it for the Twitter fan?”

The shows that work really well on Twitter are the ones that give something back to the Twitter audience.

People love getting their name up in lights. Working on Got To Dance on Sky was unique insomuch as the audience were able to get their Tweets read out by Davina McCall live on air. As the series went on the viewers began to realise that the more descriptive and positive comments were the ones most likely to be read out.

This in itself had a positive impact on the show as not only was the show receiving many positive tweets, but more and more people were using the hashtag subject which in turn meant many topics were trending – thus its presence snowballed.

If the show isn’t live, then at least re-tweet the person who bothered saying something nice. Glen Brown is right, a mention from the presenter would be the ultimate accolade for this particular fan. For this reason, the social media presence of Talent is now becoming more and more of a factor in the initial selection process.

Another Davina show that gives something back, not only in mentions but in sheer fun, is The Million Pound Drop. The live show and relevant apps allows people to play as if they were the contestant. Twitter users get caught up in the mania which adds a whole new dimension to the viewing experience. This is one of the reasons this show won a Digital Creativity BAFTA award earlier in the year.

If the show is not live, then TV channels should try and support it as much as possible on Twitter. Misfits on Channel 4 took this on and gave all the show’s characters a Twitter account each. This enabled fans to directly interact with the characters and ask them questions, this unearthed new subplots which in turn were reflected upon on later episodes. Plus there were online games that generated as much buzz on Twitter as the TV episode. Quite brilliant.

Sam Silverwood-Cope is Head of Social Media at Intelligent Positioning and was on the BAFTA Jury for Digital Creativity 2011.

Earlier today the owners of Blackberry were ordered to Parliament to explain the BBM (Blackberry Messenger) service and how it contributed to the mobilisation of the riots as well as to question Facebook and Twitter executives for their networks’ part in the disorder.

Despite some MPs wanting to move away from any knee-jerk reaction it seems that the communication tools and online communities are still taking more than their share of the blame for how the rioting ensued.

So was it the fault of Twitter and BBM? Would we have had the riots without them?

What is BBM – Blackberry Messenger?

BBM is a great device. It can be used to send a single message to a large, assigned group of people in an instant.

For example, an IT Manager in a business can send a Blackberry APP made for the company to all employees in one message which can then be uploaded to the phone, thus saving vast amounts of time and resource. This is similar to a memo service of old, or an email to All-Staff. Fast, simple and un-tracked.

The problem with the riots was that Blackberry couldn’t track all these messages. The police were blind to what was going on within these plethora of groups. Maybe Blackberry initially felt that they never needed to track such messages, and for the example above, why would they? This was obviously one of the reasons why the rioters used it as a communication tool. Also, it’s a truism, but they also used it because many young people have Blackberrys (a cheaper smartphone than an Iphone). But is this the technology’s fault that big brother isn’t watching our every step or text?

Bad News travels fast on Twitter

Yes news and information can spread on Facebook and Twitter like wild-fire, whether it is good or bad. Rumours can quickly be formed and read by millions of people within minutes.

However, those rumours can be quashed too, almost as soon as they have formed. If the Government wanted to curtail this communication source in times of disorder, it would be switching off all the benefits that can be gained form reaching millions of people in seconds, calming people, informing people of danger, or (as we saw the day after the riots) belittling perpetrators.

The day after the riots Twitter and Facebook came into their own and had massive positive effects on the aftermath of the riots. Twitter helped to give a voice to the clean-up, Facebook hosted a group of 750,000 plus who supported the work of the police. Just because a few people had used these sites the previous night, doesn’t mean they aided the progress of the riots anymore than any alternative could have done.

There would have been riots without Twitter

It has been reported that more than 70% of the 1,715 brought to court had previous convictions or cautions after the riots. On the particular night some of these people used BBM or Twitter to call their friends to arms or decide upon targets. But surely, if we didn’t have BBM or Twitter, wouldn’t they have simply used something else?

To blame either technology is like blaming Hyde Park’s Speaker’s Corner for the political unrest of the 1830s. If that was closed do you really think anyone with a political discourse would have not simply taken his angst elsewhere?

No technology can be blamed for the riots, neither can they take the credit for the backlash. Twitter and Facebook are simply soundboards to our society and its opinions. Yes there can be an acceleration to it that we are simply not used to, but like society we will have some bad opinions, hopefully we can put them right more quickly on Twitter and use the soundboard to society’s benefits.

Transfer Deadline day is the Christmas of football. The media start talking about it 6 months before the date, and us consumers can’t get away from it.

Social Media is ideal for passing on news quickly about a player seen entering a stadium or having dinner with a Manager. However this frenzy is reflected in some aspects of social media, and it seems to perpetuate the frenzy and the rumour, and therefore in someways add to the anti-climax of the day.

Everyone wants a bit of the action

All major newspapers have a live blog, wanting to capture the lucrative SEO traffic. Pages are constructed and linked to months in advance. The Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and Daily Mail all had live feeds.

The Guardian had a live blog feed going out until 12am that night. It was funny and informative (with the odd mistake). It combined all social media assets with Sky News updates.

Footballers on Twitter

Even Footballers were getting involved, plumping up their cushions and getting comfortable for a day’s Twitter viewing. Jack Wilshere is an ardent Twitter user and obviously enjoys the football banter too.

Sky Sports News – their Christmas Day

This fever pitch can be most perfectly reflected in Sky Sports coverage of the whole event. It is their biggest day of the year. Like Father Christmas they don’t do much on Boxing Day.

Sky Sports News have made this day their own. Other media have tried to take a part of it, and may offer better, more informed coverage, but it will always be Sky Sports News’ day. Their TV offering is perfect for the day of frenzy. They have journalists outside every major ground, “Sky Informers” on the phone giving details of medicals and agent movements. And more than just an eye on Twitter if any of the rumours there are actually true.

Sky Sports Tweets on Deadline Day:

• 117

Sky Sports Tweets day after deadline day

• 3

So you would have thought the Sky Sports Facebook page would have countless updates too? Well we did until we saw this message.

“..This is one of our busiest days of the year. Therefore can you please visit the transfer centre on the link below for this news. Many Thanks”

Social Media adds to the rumour and the anti climax

Social Media, and especially Facebook should be the ideal place to service all customer questions, not the website, which can become outdated quite quickly. However, on deeper analysis it is not surprising they are doing this.

There are 100s of comments on their pages under the lines of “Have Aston Villa bought anyone?” or “Any news on Stoke City?“. Users have become lazy in this customer servicing 24 hours media world. They demand direct information to their questions, without actually doing any of the work for themselves. However these fans have been led to believe that they can be given the breaking news, 24 hours a day, by these media outlets and so have every right to demand up-to-the-minute information. Sky responded with site links.

The Rumour Mill exacerbated on Twitter

Footballers trend frequently on Twitter. But Transfer day had more than its normal share even the odd Sky Sports News presenter.
Football names were trending throughout the country. Most interestingly Manchester had a higher share of Football related terms than the south.

Twitter is the perfect medium for spreading news fast. However, if that news is just rumour and an untrue – it can get out of hand in no time. And on Transfer Deadline day we don’t tend to need any more rumours. Tom Huddleston the Spurs midfielder set the touch paper alight when he joked:

“Can’t believe who just sneaked in the training ground the back way”.

And then a purported tweet from Stuart Downing the England midfielder set the Rumour Mill ablaze with gossip that even reached coverage on Sky Sports news and the other newspaper blogs.

Transfer Day a bit of a mess – but enjoyable

Transfer Deadline day is a self perpetuated mess. The media have built it up, the players are even excited about it and so the fans are happy to gobble it all up. Social Media reflects this in many ways. Twitter and other social media channels offer insightful up to the minute news, however the wrong, less dependable sources give us a load of rubbish. C’est la vie.

However, Twitter users don’t always take themselves too seriously and jokes like this can quickly go viral.

“Luka Modric seen leaving Spurs”