Not So-So Blog : the official blog

60% of all European Internetters use social media

June 27th, 2007

Last week we read the report of Alloy Media & Marketing which reveals that especially youngsters are active on social networks. Two weeks ago Forrester published a report which states that more than 60% of all European internet users are active on social networks.
The research is based on a survey amongst 7.000 online consumers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. Southern Europeans are heavier involved on Social Networks than on Blogs.

Some highlights from the report:

Reading peer reviews is the nr. 1 social computing activity, with nearly 1/3 of all European Internetters taking part in the activity.
Spanish people actively comment, while Germans are reluctant to offer their opinions online.
Dutch people are more prone to Blogging than social networking, with 15% of the Internet users in the Netherlands taking part on a Blog or maintaining their own Blog.

Posted in In public by admin | No Comments »

The perfect fit for social Brazil

June 17th, 2007

We believe Brazil is an acid test for every social network venture. John wrote before on the crucial need to understand Latin markets in order to grow. Flickr remained way too long an elitarian platform only used by the incrowd US-keen Blogger crowd with a stagnating growth as a result. They understood the lesson late and decided this month the make the Flickr interface available in 7 other languages. Too late I fear.

The current tone of voice of the Blog incrowd makes us believe that Facebook is dwarfing out other social networks. Not ! Actually, all social platforms keep growing at nearly the same pace and if Facebook weren’t accepted by Latin and Indian users, they wouldn’t feature the current growth.

Jennifer Woodard Maderazo wrote an excellent analysis on the need for a coherent Blue Ocean strategy and the importance of Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in it.

Posted in Community by admin | No Comments »

Web shoppers crave social experience

June 17th, 2007

Most people believe consumers want goal-oriented guidance in their shopping search.
A recent May Gartner study indicates however that a larger pool of online shoppers crave a social experience, even if they are shopping from the comfort of their computer desk. Social shoppers seek pleasant experiences and emotional connections to other shoppers, the research report reveals.

One third of Internet users influenced by social media

June 11th, 2007

One in three internet users say that their purchase decisions are influenced by sites with social content, according to a January 2007 survey conducted by JupiterResearch. The survey, which was commissioned to explore how consumers use social networking sites.
A social networking site is defined as “a site that allows the users to post their own content, including sites with user-generated product reviews”.

The most popular social networking sites are frequented by 25% of internet users at least once a month, and visitors arrive at the sites primarily through direct navigation and bookmarking. The study also shows that while less than 10% of the internet population visits niche social networks, they are a highly targeted and effective way of reaching very specific consumer groups.

Other findings:
1. 72% of YouTube visitors primarily seek entertainment, while 49% of FaceBook users and 35% of MySpace users primarily seek networking opportunities.
2. 56% of TripAdvisor visitors, 39% of Yahoo! Answers visitors, 39% of Craigslist visitors, and 32% of iVillage visitors actively research products or services.
3. One out of three internet users turns to sites with user-generated content to help make a purchase decision.

Posted in Thoughts by admin | 1 Comment »

New Weber Shandwick Global Research Identifies Radical Shift In Consumer Decision-Making

June 10th, 2007

In a recent global study performed by Weber Shandwick, 45% of all consumers were identified as advocates. A top 9% of advocates were found to be “high-inteinsity advocates”, based on their ability to more actively influence others and their quick speed-to-action time. High-intensity advocates are critical to reach, according to the research, because of their enthusiasm for action.
For the purposes of this Weber Shandwick survey, the term “advocate” included consumers who “take action to support or detract from issues, causes, companies, and products, such as making recommendations, sending a letter to a company or elected official, or organizing a protest or boycott.”
A very accurate definition of an average Not So-So member.

Posted in Thoughts by admin | No Comments »

USA Today surges with social media

June 10th, 2007

USA Today has experienced “stellar” gains in numbers of new registrants following the launch of its social media-driven “Network Journalism” initiative.

Thanks in large part to those tools, the paper says, the site has experienced dramatic performance gains; its unique visitor rates have increased 21% since February and more than 40,000 user comments have been published alongside news stories on the site since March. The numbers are proof that information is more powerful when consumers can interact with it, create it, and share it with their peers.

Posted in Thoughts by admin | No Comments »

Ann-Marie, her lovers and Google

June 5th, 2007

We’ve all read the first book of Ann-Marie Cordia and loved it.
Jolly us to have Ann-Marie as one of our 80 alpha testers. And even more happy we are to see her Not So-So page tops Google search results.
…and we haven’t even started…

Posted in Uncategorized by admin | No Comments »

Layout update

June 4th, 2007

We just released an important layout update.
Below you can see what a typical individual user page looks like when you click a name on Not So-So.
This is not the page you see when you logon to Not So-So. The opening page is your personal ‘gazette’ of the latest tips of the friends you follow. Leave your e-mail here and we might pick you to join the current 80 alpha-testers. Next major update scheduled later this month, with the public beta still planned for the last week of June.

Posted in Features by admin | No Comments »

Show me your tags

May 9th, 2007

And I tell you who you are. Tags when you click “show only my tips”, the X-ray to see if a person is interesting enough to add. The dynamics really start kicking in once you enter more than 10 tips.

Posted in Features by admin | No Comments »

Lay-out update

May 8th, 2007

We’ve just uploaded an update of the layout.
An essential, yet simple functionality is the possibility to tag tips as your favorites.

Not So-So is as big or small as you want it to be. You decide the kind of tips you want to follow by clicking the people or their (sub)categories you wish to follow on your screen. If you see a tip passing by of the tipstream from likeminded people, you just tag it as a favorite for later use.