Making Sense Of Social Networks

Slide 1: Making Sense of Social Networks Yuval Zukerman, Molecular

Slide 2: Agenda • Social networks – why you should care • The major players and what’s ahead • The international angle • Riding the social wave • Key Takeaways and Point of View 2 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 11: Social networks and teen usage • Stay in touch with friends (both near and far) on a near-constant basis • Communicate using friend pages (84%) • Send private messages (82%) • Make plans with friends (72%) • Broadcast message to friends (61%) • Meet new friends (49%) Source: 11 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 13: The friend factor • Friends influence purchase decisions • Friends are as important as brands • Boys aged 18-21 have the most friends Source: MTV / Microsoft Advertising http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=819541296&size=l 13 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 20: Characteristics • Basic features – A profile page – Ability to search users – Friend connections • Additional features – Blog – Comment posting – Photo gallery – Messaging – Layout customization – Widgets and trinkets – Privacy controls 20 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 21: Categorization Se co · Blotch size generally corresponds Tagged Barbie girls Lif nd e to audience size. · The center represents ‘General Habbo Piczo Habbo World interests and functionality’ of myYearbook · The farter a blotch is from the Warcraft center, the more specialized the Dada CyWorld R site is in its characteristics. un es ca pe Facebook Bebo MySpace Twitter jaxtr Orkut LinkedIn Hi5 MSN ElHood Asian Avenue lastfm Friendster Pownce Black 60 ly tip Planet o3 ul QuePasa M ho ga Ya flickr Xa n LiveJournal 21 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 34: Picking the right partner • Are user numbers real? – Membership Inflation – Registered vs. active user figures • How many users have actually logged in recently? 34 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 35: Picking a partner • How active and involved are users? – Average Login rates – Other Metrics • Posts to blog • Photos uploaded • New friend connections • Reviews 35 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 36: Picking a partner • Breaking it down further – find your sweet spot – Geography – Gender – Age groups – User Interests 36 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 37: The International Angle • Local networks are strong in their respective markets • Facebook tails off outside English speaking world • Many research companies rely on usage by US or European users • Researchers often focus on known entities (e.g. MySpace) and ignore unknown local ones 37 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 39: Proceed with caution • IRC-Galleria is big in Finland • Not tracked by comScore • Rely on local office data or look at local Nielsen//NetRatings 39 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 42: Partnering with a social network site • Places your message prominently on social network pages • Guaranteed exposure vs. cost and intrusion upon users Nikon partnered with flickr to use embedded photo data to ‘sponsor’ photos taken with Nikon camera. Photographers were not compensated. Flickr was. 42 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 51: Widgets: your brand, everywhere • Web Widgets – Free placement on user pages – Leverage viral communications – Have users contribute to your growth – Avoid reinventing the wheel • Desktop Widgets – Direct communications between your brand and the user – Make loyalty programs more effective 51 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 52: Flash (Photobucket) Widget varieties Embeddable Widgets AJAX / JavaScript HTML iFrame Web Widgets Flash (YourMinis) Widget AJAX (NetVibes, Containers PageFlakes) iGoogle Widget Browser Toolbar Browser- Based Browser Extension (Delicious) Desktop Native Widgets Application Linux/Unix XWindows Applets OS Widget Apple OS X Engine Dashboard Windows Vista Gadgets Widget Engine Yahoo! Widgets (Konfabulator) Standalone Widget Engine Google Gadgets (Google Desktop) 52 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 65: Mobile access is growing Accessed social network site or blog, June 2007 France Germany Italy Spain UK US Almost every day 0.80% 0.50% 1.50% 0.70% 0.30% 0.70% At least once each week 0.20% 0.40% 0.40% 0.60% 0.70% 1.10% Once to three times per month 0.70% 1.00% 0.90% 1.00% 1.40% 1.80% Ever in month 1.70% 1.90% 2.80% 2.30% 2.50% 3.50% Source: M:Metrics, August 2007 65 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

Slide 69: Taking messaging to the next level • Location sharing – Manual and GPS • Notification • Messaging • Online Journal / Blog 69 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

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