Online Social Networking

1. Online Social Networking David LoweySVP and Senior Partner

2. Changing social behavior Changing expectations Youth Broadband Penetration Ascendancy of Search Influx of Money Proliferation of Inexpensive Publishing Tools Standardization Growth of Social Media Why know? What has changed?

3. Why know? What has changed? • Changing social behavior • Voyeurism • Exhibitionism • Erosion of formality and civility • Changing expectations • Growing expectation a direct relationship with organizations, government, politicians • Growing expectation of personal voice in the public forum

4. Why know? What has changed? Youth • Young people – specifically those between the ages of 13 and 25 – now consume more content online than print, radio and television combined • Instant messaging online and via cell phones in the U.S. is finally catching up with the rest of the developed world – driven by youth

5. Why know? What has changed? Broadband Penetration • Fast Internet connections are pervasive; 75% of households have broadband access • Broadband means video is easy to watch … the computer is becoming more like the TV • More than 10 million people a week are now downloading multimedia online • People are more comfortable using the Internet • All ages • For both personal and professional use

6. Why know? What has changed? Broadband Penetration • 105M U.S. households with access 63% • 12M of 39M without access at work 12% 117M total households 75%

7. Why know? What has changed? Broadband Penetration Source: Center for Media Design,Ball State University, and the Online Publishers Association

8. Why know? What has changed? The TV experience has changed • The DVR has sapped the compulsion to watch live • Much of the programming is homogeneous, predictable • Voyeurism and exhibitionism lend themselves better to the online environment • More immediate and unscheduled • More interactive and inclusive

9. Web@Home Broadband Penetration Source: Center for Media Design, Ball State University, and the Online Publishers Association

10. Web@Work Broadband Penetration Source: Center for Media Design, Ball State University, and the Online Publishers Association

11. Why know? What has changed? Search • Most Internet experiences today start at a search engine, and social networking sites disproportionate impact search results • This is why the term “search engine optimization” has become so pervasive 213M searches a day in the U.S. 93M on Google 61M on Yahoo! 27M on MSN

12. Why know? What has changed? Money • Dilution of spend and perceived decrease in effectiveness of traditional advertising has led to a massive influx of money to the Internet • Marketing and advertising money is flowing online with “irrational exuberance” driven by: • A combination of hype (me too) and reality (online demographics and impact) • The symbiotic relationship between the Internet and traditional media • Momentum within the agency world

13. Why know? What has changed? Proliferation of Inexpensive Publishing Tools • Publishing and broadcasting applications are widely available • Some are free, supported by ad revenue • Some are fee-based, but inexpensive • TypePad • Community Server • MySpace • FaceBook • Blogger • Technorati • Yahoo! Groups • MSN Groups • Friendster • YouTube • LiveJournal

14. Why know? What has changed? Standardization • RSS (Really Simple Syndication) • Technorati Tags • XML

15. Why know? What has changed? Growth of Social Media • Many new media sites allow for blog or bulletin-board style user comments • Digg • Engadget • Gizmodo • Daily Kos • Gaping Void • Gawker • Yahoo! Groups • MSN Groups • Friendster • YouTube • Radio Shows • TV Shows

16. Social Networks A structural view of social relationships. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors. Online Social Networks Social networks enabled by the Internet and IP-technology What is Online Social Networking?

17. What is Online Social Networking? Web 2.0 • A second-generation of Internet-based services — such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies — that let people collaborate and share information online in previously unavailable ways

18. A sum of these parts: Blogs Wikis SecondLife Social Sites (i.e. MySpace, YouTube) Multiplayer Online Gaming Instant Messaging (IM) Email Forums/Listservs eCommerce sites (i.e. Amazon, Epinions What is Online Social Networking?

19. IM Blogs Wikis User Forums Bulletin Boards Social Sites eCommerce Multi- Player Gaming Email What is Online Social Networking?

20. Online Social Networks Connected Networks The following image maps the connections and shows how the most-linked-to 50 top blogs relate to one another Each arrow represents a hypertext link

21. Blogging • Eight percent of Internet users, or about 12 million American adults, keep a blog. • Thirty-nine percent of Internet users, or about 57 million American adults, read blogs – a significant increase since the fall of 2005. • Thirty-four percent of bloggers consider their blog a form of journalism. Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project

22. Blogging • Blogs and traditional media feed off each other • In some areas blogs have replaced trade publications as the primary outlet (i.e. Gizmodo for product reviews) • Bloggers have joined journalists and others as legitimate intermediaries … targets for earned media efforts

23. ADVERTISING AUTHOR FEEDS TAGS Anatomy of a Blog

24. Online Social Networks: Blogs • Smaller blogger networks possess significant influence over specific topic areas by promoting specific content via hyperlinks • Syndication, often called “Google Bombing,” then can quickly alter search results and influence Internet news feed sites like Yahoo! News. Take the Kryptonite Lock case, for example.

25. Online Social Networks: Blogs

26. Online Social Networks: Vlogs • A vlog is a video podcast popularized in large part by the Apple i-Pod and i-Tunes • 22 million Americans own an MP3 device like an i-Pod • By 2010, 65.6 million Americans are expected to own MP3 players • Currently 60,000-80,000 vlogs online

27. Vlogs

28. Defining Wikiality • WikialitySomething is true if enough people are convinced of it “Wikiality” and “Truthiness” named the top television buzz words of the year by Global Language MonitorTruthiness is the quality by which a person claims to know something intuitively, instinctively, or "from the gut" without regard to – and even of the face of -- evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts.

29. Defining Wikiality

30. What does it mean to Stephen Colbert? Wikipedia entry position in Google search results2nd

31. What about a politician such as George Bush? Wikipedia entry position in Google search results3rd

32. What about a less known politician such as Emmanuel Cleaver? Wikipedia entry position in Google search results2nd

33. What does it mean to a client in the electronic voting business? Wikipedia entry position in Google search results 2nd

34. What if you were entering the IPTV business like AT&T? Wikipedia entry position in Google search results 1st

35. Surely it doesn’t affect your branded IPTV product, U-verse? Wikipedia entry position in Google search results 4th

36. AT&T’s Chairman, Edward Whitacre? Wikipedia entry position in Google search results 2nd

37. How Big is Wikipedia? • “In June, Wikipedia sites had the eighth-largest online audience in the world with 128 million visitors, trailing such Internet giants as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.”Associated Press

38. Why Do Wikipedia Entries Rank So High? • “The number of visitors has been doubling every four months; the site receives as many as 14,000 hits per second. “Wikipedia functions as a filter for vast amounts of information online, and it could be said that Google owes the site for tidying up the neighborhood. “But the search engine is amply repaying its debt: because Wikipedia pagescontain so many links to other entries on the site, andare so frequently updated, theyenjoy an enviably high page rank.”The New Yorker

39. Why Do Wikipedia Entries Rank So High? • Three key factors affect Google rankings: • Word density – how often the word is used in the entry • Link density and relevance – how often the page links to related content, and how often related pages link to the page • How much traffic does the site receive; how much traffic do the interlinked sites receive • Wiki entries play to Google algorithms with high density and relevance of words and links

40. What Do People Think of Wikipedia? • Perception of neutrality and/or balance • Perception of accuracy, although it has mixed marks • Often used as an issue primer and an alternative to a search

41. Who is An Active Wikipedia Contributor? • Active user base that is informed and involved • Eggheads: people very close to a subject, essentially knowledge extroverts • Advocates: people passionate about a subject who use the Wikipedia landscape to promote their views and challenge opponents • Evangelists: Wiki purists with a dedication to the social concept behind Wikipedia • Pranksters: people who play practical jokes; undertake encyclografitti

42. Wikipedia’s Detractors • Media: This is driven in part by turf issues about the role of professional media vs. consumer-generated media; lower standards for accuracy and accountability • Educators: Similar turf issues re: ‘scholarship’; many teachers and institutions have felt the need to announce they will not accept Wikipedia as a source in a paper

43. What Do Companies Think? • Don’t care: a silly Web site for people who watch Cartoon Network; it can’t affect my business • Frustration: how dare people claim ownership over my content, my image? • Confusion: why does this keep coming up? • Not on radar: Wiki-what?

44. User Forums/Listservs • Forums based upon threaded discussions • Not real-time, delayed • Searchable • Interwoven with email (alerts) and often a bridge to IM • Uses run the gamut • Sports fans • Patient support groups • Gamers, enthusiasts of any kind • Companies have turned to user forums as a call shedding technique; begin with hardware and software companies

45. User Forums/Listservs

47. Cingular Trend Force

48. Second Life • Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents • Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 1,029,969 people from around the globe • Businesses have recently flocked to Second Life; launching campaigns and stunts to gain coverage of their efforts (more so that reach the Second Life population)

50. MySpace