Archivi categoria: Trends

[Focus on Social Platforms - 06_2013] Instagram

Digital media is going visual, with Instagram leading the way.

Just three years old, Instagram is now owned by Facebook and poised to become a major player on the social Web. Along with its growing user base, Instagram has attracted more and more brands, too. While Instagram isn’t quite on par with Facebook or Twitter when it comes to brand adoption, it’s well on its way.

Check out these 15 interesting stats about the ever popular mobile photo-sharing network:

  1. Instagram has 100 million monthly active users. (Instagram)
  2. 40 million photos are posted per day. (Instagram)
  3. There are 8,500 likes per second on Instagram.  (Instagram)
  4. 1,000 comments are made per second.  (Instagram)
  5. 59 percent of Interbrand’s top 100 brands are on Instagram. (Simply Measured)
  6. Engagement on Instagram with the those top 100 brands has increased 35 percent, driven mostly by Nike, Adidas, and Gucci. (Simply Measured)
  7. 26 of the top 100 brands have more than 10,000 Instagram followers. (Simply Measured)
  8. 10 of the top 100 brands have over 100,000 followers. (Simply Measured)
  9. 40 percent of brands’ photos are filtered. (Simply Measured)
  10. Lo-Fi is the most used filter among brands. (Simply Measured)
  11. Of the brands that use Instagram, 41 percent now post at least one photo per week.  (Simply Measured)
  12. 98 percent of Instagram photos posted by top brands are now shared to Facebook.  (Simply Measured)
  13. 28 percent of U.S. Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram. (Pew)
  14. 14 percent of Internet users between the ages of 30 and 49 use Instagram. (Pew)
  15. Only 3 percent of Internet users between the ages of 50 and 65 use Instagram. (Pew)

How Your Device Is Controlling You

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We take it for granted that more of our time and attention is spent staring into a screen. It’s become our central interface with the world. In fact, we’re consuming as about three times the amount of information today that we did in 1960, according to researchers at University of California, San Diego.

What this does to our brains, our attention span, our relationships, even our moods, however, is being studied as we speak. There is no definitive answer, yet. But we conducted a survey at meQuilibrium to find out what impact screen time was having on people’s lives, attention spans, outlook — and even we were shocked at what we found.

We Can’t Ignore Them

It would be one thing if our phones just sat there quietly until we needed them. But they don’t. They exert a kind of tyranny over our attention and actions. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they cannot ignore their devices and check them within an hour of receiving an email, text, or alert — and 81 percent of those surveyed interrupt conversations, meals, all kinds of fun things, to do it.

Rethink the urge. When you feel yourself reaching for your phone, hit pause. Ask yourself what could be gained from checking right now. Delay it–especially if you’re in the middle of food or conversation.

We Feel Worse After Checking

I could almost understand the Pavlovian response we have to buzzing and ringing if we were guaranteed to feel better after tuning in to our screens. But it turns out we’ll stop mid-sentence or mid-chew to check our email and texts–only to feel worse. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed reported feeling jealous, depressed, or even annoyed after checking updates! It’s no surprise, then, that 73 percent of respondents believe that their devices contribute to stress in their lives. (Learn more about the stress epidemic and how it’s impacting you.)

Rethink the effects. Next time you do a quick scan of email, text, and social networks, ask yourself, what did you learn and how did it make you feel? We rarely take the time to reflect on it, but doing so and owning up to how it makes you feel and what, if anything, it’s doing for you, is the first step to making a shift.

We Spend More Time With Screens Than People

It’s bad enough that we’ll stop what we’re doing with those we love to do something that will undoubtedly leave us more stressed — but more and more people are opting for screen time over the company of others. Three out of five people admitted to spending more of their free time on their computers than with their significant others.

Rethink your time. Rather than let digital inertia take over, make a plan: to go out, to see people, to get food, meet someone for a walk. It does require an extra effort to put yourself in front of other people, even the ones you live with — but the rewards you’ll reap from that company will outweigh anything you’ll find on Facebook.

Your device isn’t evil unto itself, of course. But the more you can become aware of your own habits and the effect your screen time is having on you, the more in control of your attention you can be.

[Source: Huffington Post - meQuilibrium]

Brands allocating most of social marketing budget on Facebook, uncertain of worth

Brands are spending more on Facebook than any other social network as found by BI Intelligence, a branch of Business Insider research. The Technorati Media’s 2013 Digital Influence Report has found that 57 percent of social media budgets are allocated toward Facebook with YouTube and Twitter only receiving 13 percent.

In a separate study, out of 3000 marketers surveyed 41 percent said they were “uncertain” about the effectiveness of Facebook marketing. Social Media Examiner’s 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report also found that 17 percent have directly said the site is ineffective for marketing purposes, with 32 percent finding it effective.

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As the largest social network, it comes at no surprise that brands are spending the majority of their budgets on Facebook. However, there is a potential opening for other social networks to lure advertising away from Facebook.

These statistics suggest that it is important for Facebook to better communicate results and effects for all marketing. Brands have difficulty quantifying the value of a like, so it is important for the social network to educate marketers on how they are spending their money and how they should be measuring their results.

[Source: InsideFacebook]

Smartphone Users Check Facebook 14 Times a Day

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Think you use your phone to look at Facebook a lot? Unless you’re doing it at least 14 times a day, you’re actually below average.

That’s just one of the surprising revelations in a research report by IDC (attached) released in march. The study tapped 7,446 iPhone and Android users in the U.S. between 18 and 44 — representative of the 50% of the population that uses smartphones — and asked them questions about their phone usage across one week in March.

Depending on your perspective, many of the results are either depressing or confirm what you knew all along. For example, it seems that 79% of smartphone users reach for their devices within 15 minutes of waking up. A clear majority — 62% — don’t even wait 15 minutes, and grab their phones immediately. (Among 18-24 year olds, the numbers rise to 89% and 74%.)

Given that the survey was sponsored by Facebook, most of the questions focus on the social network. Which is, it seems, only the third most popular app on your smartphone, after email and the browser. Still, 70% of smartphone users are frequent Facebook visitors, with more than half of them checking it every day.

Peak Facebook time is during the evening, just before bed. But any time’s good: on average, we visit the Facebook app or the site 13.8 times during the day, for two minutes and 22 seconds each time. Our average total daily mobile time on the site — and remember, this is just via our smartphones — is half an hour.

That’s roughly a fifth of all the time we spend communicating; it’s only slightly less time than we spend texting. On weekends, we check Facebook more than we text.

Any place seems to be good to check Facebook, too. Some 46% of us check it when we’re shopping or running errands; 48% use it at the gym. Even preparing a meal gives 47% of us no respite from the social network. (Well, what else are you going to do while you’re waiting for the microwave to ping?)

Perhaps the most unpardonable sin: 50% of smartphone users admit to checking Facebook while at a movie. We hope they mean only during the ads.

So what are we spending all that time doing? Well, for about half of that daily half-hour on the social network, we’re simply browsing our News Feed. The rest of the time is divided fairly evenly between Facebook messaging and posting updates. Half of Facebook users play games via the service on their phone a few times a day.

Does the smartphone survey ring true to you? Share your thoughts in the comments.

[Source: Mashable]