unplannd

We have moved

2012-01-07T17:23:00.008+05:30

You can find the new unplannd here.

You can also follow @unplannd on twitter.

A comprehensive taxonomy of web business models

2009-03-29T00:57:00.002+05:30

What business models are powering the web-sites and applications out there? Here's a comprehensive listing of all the available business models with a percentage breakup of how the pie looks.

If the world can twitter, you can do better

2009-03-25T12:49:00.002+05:30

Nowadays, there's much being said about Twitter and on Twitter. You try and keep with up the former, but what about the latter? You can mine the twitter stream for insights and here are 8 ways/tools to help you do so.

[Pic courtesy: comicbase]

Brands to emulate

2009-02-19T12:48:00.002+05:30

Mashable's list of the 10 smartest big brands on social media.

[Illustration by Matt Hamm]

Demographic breakdown of Social Networking sites

2009-02-17T20:43:00.000+05:30

Although widely quoted, this demographic breakdown of social networking sites by sex and age (originally located here) lists no references or antecedents. Take it with a pinch of you know what.

Got a question?

2009-02-06T18:35:00.003+05:30

Head across the Social Marketing Marketing FAQ to find the answers to all the questions you had and to some you didn't.

[Pic Courtesy: jakedobkin]

Why most online communities fail

2009-01-31T22:43:00.006+05:30

A short post from the Wall Street Journal blog that nails the three reasons why most online communities built by businesses fail.

[Via Noah Brier/Pic courtesy kellan]

The Pew Internet Report On Adults and Social Networks

2009-01-16T17:52:00.003+05:30

According to Pew's new report:

35% of online adults now have at least one profile on a social networking site, more than quadruple the amount that did in February 2005, when the figure was 8%.
The number of grown-ups jumping on the social media bandwagon has roughly doubled every 18 months over the past four years.
60% of adult social network users restrict access to their profiles so that only their friends can see it

You can read/download the whole report here.

[Cartoon by Geek&Poke]

Social Networks Analysis - by Geography and Demography

2009-01-13T01:12:00.005+05:30

A comprehensive analysis of the geographic and demographic data of all the major social networks.

[Mosaic by Genista]

DIY Guides for Social Media

2009-01-06T22:00:00.005+05:30

How to do almost anything with Social Media has a comprehensive collection of how-tos about social media - leaving us to deliver one instruction only: click on the above link, pronto.

[Picture courtesy brycej]

The Very Best of 2008

2009-01-05T21:48:00.002+05:30

A comprehensive compilation of the very best internet marketing posts of 2008 - covering SEO, social media strategy and posts about specific social media sites.

[Pictures courtesy : Spell with Flickr]

Online advertising to weather recession and grow in 2009

2008-12-30T19:14:00.005+05:30

Busineeweek reports on why this slowdown will be unlike the last one - at least for online advertising, which is set to grow 6 to 10% next year.

[Original pic by gruntzooki]

What does 2009 hold in store?

2008-12-28T21:16:00.004+05:30

Fourteen social media experts gaze into their crystal balls and tell us what's in store for social media in 2009.

[Original pic by Rigmarole]

The Don'ts and Don'ts Of Social Media

2008-12-28T21:09:00.004+05:30

A superlist of lists on what NOT TO DO if you're dabbling in social media.

[Original pic by badbrother]

Where do advertising agencies fit in the social media future?

2008-12-28T20:56:00.004+05:30

Adrian Ho of Zeus Jones writes in Adweek on the likely end of the road for advertising agencies unless they undergo a radical transformation.

[Original pic by Stuck in Customs]

The new brand graveyard

2008-12-12T13:34:00.008+05:30

If you are a brand preparing to jump on to the apps bandwagon read on to find out why exercising caution may not be such a bad idea after all.

Companies/Organisations Powered by Social Media

2008-12-03T23:11:00.007+05:30

As adoption of social media proliferates, it gets more difficult to keep track of who's doing what. No worries for the time being though - here's a superlist of lists of companies who're using social media. That's a lot of conversation going on out there.

[Original image by b_d_solis]

Where to go for statistics on social media?

2008-12-01T10:33:00.000+05:30

Social Media Statistics is a wiki that aims to put in one place all the facts and figures around social media. So, if you don't know how many users Facebook currently has, this is the place to head to. On the other hand, if you know how many users Facebook currently has - it's also the place to head to and share it with others.

[Original pic by Bright Tal]

The Best Books On Social Media

2008-11-30T00:15:00.007+05:30

A list of the best books on social media - handpicked to ensure that the books don't get outdated any time soon. And before you head off to Alibris.com on an acquisition spree, here's also a list of the top 25 free e-books on social media.

[Original pic by chotda]

The Cluetrain Review : On Slideshare

2008-10-29T11:40:00.002+05:30

Cluetrain Review

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web 2.0 cluetrain)

Facebook Chart3: Users by Age Group

2008-07-31T11:30:00.000+05:30

Given it's root, it should hardly be a surprise that Facebook has more college-age (18-25) users in the US as in the overseas.

Facebook Chart 2 - Apps count

2008-07-30T14:40:00.000+05:30

... continues to grow while the usage stays flat. The top 10% of apps account for 98% of total usage - and only about 6% of apps average at least 500 active users per day.
Via O'reilly Radar.

Facebook Chart - Growth by Country

2008-07-30T14:00:00.000+05:30

In the last four weeks, while Facebook grew double-digits in Asia - it did so from a relatively small base (approx. 3.7 million users). Except in Chile, Hi5 and Orkut remain the dominant social networks in other parts of the Americas. [Via O'reilly Radar.]

Amazon is using Twitter

2008-07-29T11:00:00.001+05:30

Amazon MP3 Twitters their 'Deal of the Day' with currently 4,247 active followers.
[Via adspace-pioneers]

Viral - a primer

2008-07-28T14:05:00.003+05:30

Ship's Biscuit shows how the winning virals appear to show similar patterns - with examples from brands like Sony, Levis, Nokia, Vodafone, Diet Coke, BMW and more. Click here to find more on these 'patterns' exhibited by some of the winning virals.
[Original pic by Coco-cola Conversations blog]

The Inc. 500 Social Media Graph...

2008-07-27T14:00:00.000+05:30

... between 2007& 2008 is pointing up - in 'Social Media in the Inc. 500: The First Longitudinal Study'.
[Original pic by aleske]

Visa 'Friends' Small Businesses on Facebook

2008-07-26T14:00:00.001+05:30

... with it's The Visa Business Network application on Facebook. Current estimates put 80,000 small businesses on this social networking site - and to grease the wheels, Visa is offering a $100 "Facebook ads" credit to the first 20,000 businesses that join the network.

Why Brands Need a New Kind of Leader...

2008-07-25T14:00:00.002+05:30

As conversations with customer matter more, brands like Intel look towards social-media evangelists as the glue that makes 'that' conversation happen.

Micro-Interactions 2.0

2008-07-24T13:32:00.009+05:30

View Upload your own

David Armano on how the real power in "social" is the quality of interactions consumers have with companies and brands.

Quote me if you can #7

2008-06-30T08:24:00.003+05:30

[Via Jason Oke]

MTV Asia 'Being Young' Study & Social Media

2008-06-26T20:52:00.002+05:30

| View | Upload your own

Quote me if you can # 6

2008-06-26T19:54:00.003+05:30

Blogging now 'Mainstream' among Women (Consumers)

2008-06-02T14:00:00.003+05:30

Of the general population of online women who write blogs, 58% post entries at least weekly and of those who read blogs, 80% do so at least weekly - claims a recent study by BlogHer and Compass Partners (U.S.). Interestingly it's also at the cost of traditional media: some 24% of the women overall watch less TV and another 25% and 22% of the general consumers read fewer magazines and newspapers, respectively.

[Original pic by 1000 watt dream]

Social Media in Plain English

2008-06-01T21:56:00.001+05:30

Memory 2.0...

2008-05-27T07:46:00.009+05:30

What blogging does to bloggers - a creative planner explores the probable side effects of the process.

[Illustration by Elizabeth K]

LinkedIn: Step II

2008-05-25T18:05:00.004+05:30

Chris Brogan on how to make your LinkedIn profile work for you.

[Original pic by Jerry Luk]

The Twitter story so far...

2008-05-17T22:29:00.003+05:30

... in 12 slides or less - a BusinessWeek feature.

The 7 habits...

2008-05-14T18:52:00.003+05:30

... of highly effective web users? A fun illustration by CreateDebate blog - don't miss where they see themselves in the mix.

Social jargon: Social Graph

2008-05-13T21:40:00.004+05:30

Social Graph. A global mapping of everybody and how they're related - as made explicit by social networking applications.

[Index card by Indexed]

JetBlue's Twittercloud

2008-05-10T14:56:00.007+05:30

JetBlue Airways is monitoring and responding to what’s being said about it in the Twittersphere. Go to JetBlue’s page on Twitter and you will see Mr. Blue is following some 2,116 people…and 2,105 are following him back! Morgan Johnston from the company explains the reason for their presence. Click here to find why - and more.

A Breakdown of Facebook Applications

2008-05-07T22:33:00.001+05:30

Via Flowing Data.

Quote me if you can #5

2008-04-30T09:18:00.003+05:30

Via The Long Tail.

Social Media still on rise: Universal McCann finds

2008-04-28T21:20:00.011+05:30

| View | Upload your own

Universal McCann recently published its comparative study following Social Media trends by three waves: September 2006 (Wave 1), June 2007 (Wave 2) March 2008 (Wave 3).

Here are some research highlights from Wave 3:

1. Social media is a global phenomenon happening in all markets regardless of wider economic, social and cultural development.

2. Asian markets (not including Japan) are leading in terms of participation, creating more content than any other region

3. All social media platforms have grown significantly over the three Waves: Video Clips are the quickest growing platform, up from 31% penetration in Wave 1 to 83% in Wave 3

4. Social Networks: 57% have joined a Social Network, making it the number one platform for creating and sharing content: 55% of users have uploaded photos, 22% of users have uploaded videos

5. The widget economy – 23% of social network users have installed an application – 18% of bloggers have installed applications in their blog templates

6. Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and a collective rival to traditional media (184m bloggers world-wide, China has the largest blogging community in the world with 42m bloggers) – 73% have read a blog, 45% have started a blog

7. Social media has strong impacts over brand’s reputation – 34% post opinions about products and brands on their blog – 36% think more positively about companies that have blogs.

Social media by waves - Universal McCann survey:

Via Trendspotting.

Social jargon: Social Object

2008-04-25T12:35:00.005+05:30

Social Object. Something - anything - that compels people to connect with each other. Examples - music, books, fictional characters, tv shows, ideas, pictures, links, gadgets, celebrities, etc. The thinking goes that successful social networks are those which form around social objects.

[Original pic by Cody Simms]

A Social Media Primer

2008-04-23T13:14:00.003+05:30

| View | Upload your own

Quote me if you can # 4

2008-04-22T18:27:00.003+05:30

Via lynetter.

Go viral the Facebook way

2008-04-22T17:52:00.004+05:30

Here's an Insider's Guide to Viral Marketing that Facebook reportedly messaged to the 4,600 fans of the FacebookPages.

[Original pic by Kevin Labianco]

The future of Dell in Social Media?

2008-04-06T22:02:00.005+05:30

Lionel Menchaca, chief blogger at Dell, on what we can expect from Dell in the social media space.

unplannd thot: Is it just me, or is Dell indeed veering towards a top down approach - for a medium that's meant to be just the opposite.

[Original pic by baboon ]

Social jargon: Link bait

2008-04-05T08:53:00.003+05:30

Link bait. A tactic where website/blog content is created that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites. Common link bait tactics are providing tips/tricks, fast-breaking news, making controversial statements or creating a useful tool.

[Original pic by runaway wind]

Social jargon: Active/passive digital footprint

2008-04-04T08:03:00.006+05:30

Active digital footprint. Data about individuals deliberately shared online through digital photography, podcasting, blogging, video. Passive digital footprint refers to data posted online unintentionally by individuals and collected and harvested by websites to build a profile of users.

Unplannd thot: While public attention and debate has centred around digital footprints of individuals (see Pew Internet study), its worth noting that companies and brands too are leaving behind active and passive digital footprints - with the same potential for use/abuse.

[Original pic by Genista]

Quote me if you can # 3

2008-04-03T20:46:00.002+05:30

Via Paul Isakson.

The future of marketing + advertising

2008-04-03T20:29:00.003+05:30

| View | Upload your own

A presentation by Paul Isakson

We think we agree

2008-04-02T08:36:00.004+05:30

A film promoting Charles Leadbetter's new book 'We Think.'

Agencies don't get it!

2008-04-01T21:02:00.009+05:30

So claims a study by TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony that polled more than 60 marketers to gauge how they are faring navigating the world of social media and their vote of confidence in their agencies abilities to help. TNS found, in its words, "Agencies don't get it."

Pic courtsey christopherdale.

Non-classified primer

2008-04-01T18:25:00.005+05:30

An essential guide to how Craiglist works.

Quote me if you can # 2

2008-03-31T12:01:00.003+05:30

Via Adweek.

Some forgettable debuts on Facebook

2008-03-31T11:21:00.012+05:30

If you happen to be the money-savvy Facebook user, Yahoo Widget allows you to add charts of three stocks to your profile. This application had 118 daily active users at its peak in August which dwindled down to a mere 29 by Feb. 11. Check out more such non blockbusters that didn't quite hit it off with the Facebook users.

Quote me if you can # 1

2008-03-31T10:38:00.004+05:30

Via Adweek.

Social jargon: Sock puppetry

2008-03-29T18:12:00.005+05:30

Sock puppetry. In online communities, the practice of a single person creating lots of accounts and pretending to be several different people in a debate so as to create the illusion of support for a particular position.

Here's a Wikipedia page that details sock puppetry on Wikipedia.

[Original pic by The Fabricators of Useless Articles]

A non-trivial debate

2008-03-29T17:58:00.003+05:30

On the surface, this debate about inclusionists and deletionists at Wikipedia seems academic. But as brands proliferate online, soon they too will be faced with the same choice - what's trivial about themselves and what isn't; and where do they draw the line.

[Pic courtesy The Economist]

What are the numbers hiding?

2008-03-27T21:32:00.010+05:30

The Dell Regeneration Facebook Graffitti campaign is being hailed as a seemingly text-book example of a social media campaign with lots of impressive-sounding numbers. But has it spurred "affinity towards the brand from green leaning consumers?" I doubt it.

[Original pic by Claudecf]

Mapping conversation quotient...

2008-03-27T12:31:00.005+05:30

Adweek on how quantifying social media tells less than half the story.

Pic via Adweek.

Oops...Starbucks is listening

2008-03-25T20:38:00.018+05:30

Starbucks shows it's listening, with the launch of My Starbucks Idea - a social network where consumers post ideas on how Starbucks can improve its service and products or comment and vote on others' ideas. Putting money where its mouth is, it will also keep consumers up to speed on what Starbucks is doing with the proposed suggestions on a new blog, Ideas in Action.

A similar Web 2.0 initiative from Dell - IdeaStorm - resulted in a few concrete product developments and, in turn, got a big thumps up by Jeff Jarvis ( its fiercest critic) in BusinessWeek.

Unplannd thot: While non believers continue to brand it as a mere corporate propaganda site, it sure is a wise move by Starbucks to move the conversation from starbucksgossip.com to where it should rightly belong - with Starbucks.

Original pic by Daquella Manera

Online user behaviour: Myspace v/s Facebook v/s Twitter

2008-03-23T13:00:00.005+05:30

Via compete

The next step in social evolution

2008-03-22T22:38:00.004+05:30

The early e-mail services could send messages only within their own walls (rather as Facebook's messaging does today). Instant-messaging, too, started closed, but is gradually opening up. In social networking, this inevitable evolution may just be beginning.

Illustration by David Symonds. Courtsey The Economist.

What to do about online attacks

2008-03-19T19:26:00.003+05:30

WSJ outlines the 5 strategies at your disposal when you are facing the music online.

[Original pic by ekai]

Twitter in Plain English

2008-03-18T20:08:00.001+05:30

Top Social Networks Feb 2008

2008-03-13T22:16:00.002+05:30

Via compete.

Facebook Anthem

2008-03-02T23:28:00.000+05:30

MySpace: Good, bad or ugly?

2008-02-22T10:38:00.004+05:30

The Jury deliberates over whether social networking is good for society.

[Original pic by Kaptain Kobold]

Social media: Just reinventing the wheel?

2008-02-22T10:14:00.006+05:30

Before there was social media, there was, well, social media - find out what its many avatars in the 1990s looked like.

[Original pic by entro_py]

Are you CluedIn?

2008-02-18T11:12:00.002+05:30

An essential guide to how LinkedIn works.

[Original pic by Zach Klein]

Where's the exit around here?

2008-02-18T10:31:00.004+05:30

Find out what's causing people on social networks to leave the building.

[Original pic by wwwes]

RSS in plain English

2008-02-15T22:46:00.001+05:30

Social jargon - Chicklet

2008-02-14T21:08:00.005+05:30

Chicklet: A cutesy name for an RSS button. This makes it easier for visitors to your website to subscribe to your content as it’s added.

[Original pic by dhammza]

No free lunch

2008-02-07T12:08:00.000+05:30

Discover why some ways of making money by blogging are more an illusion than the real thing.

[Original pic by Mesq]

Identity crisis

2008-02-06T12:43:00.000+05:30

While Microsoft bloggers try to give it a more human face, the Flickr community sadly ponders on the (color) fate that awaits Flickr - if Yahoo! accepts the Microsoft bid.

Social jargon: Social advertising

2008-02-06T10:33:00.001+05:30

Social advertising. Involuntary product endorsement on Facebook by users whose online purchases are automatically broadcast to friends. The social networking site created its service, Beacon, as an alternative to mass marketing, but it caused mass revolt by users wary of privacy invasion.

[Cartoon via Geek&Poke]

Wisdom from the well

2008-02-05T12:35:00.001+05:30

Founders of The Well - a social network way ahead of its time - speak about what kept it running over.

[Original pic by d ha rm e sh]

Social Jargon: Scraping

2008-02-05T12:13:00.002+05:30

Scraping. Automatically harvesting information from another site and using the results on your own site - sometimes for nefarious activities. Most Web 2.0 companies prefer to use the respectable term 'importing' to describe the same activity.

Scraping is at the heart of the Web 2.0 revolution - and represents its sharing spirit. Most Web 2.0 giants take a non-proprietary stance towards their data, in fact, even encouraging outside developers to access it to foster increased inbound traffic.

Scraping is what Zillow is doing when it pulls map information from several partners - Navteq, GlobeXplorer, Proxix - and combines it with real estate data from public records to estimate what a house is worth. Scraping is what Facebook does too when it prompts you to share your email login information so it can check your address list and invite contacts who aren't yet signed into the network.

[Original pic by Legozilla]

Social Jargon: Second Earth

2008-02-05T11:57:00.001+05:30

Second Earth. The theoritical virtual world of the future, merging Google Earth geography with Second Life habitability. While appealing to technologists, such a system might deplete the actual planet: it would require an estimated 150 nuclear power plants to run the servers.

[Original pic by oregonlahar]

Social jargon: Tag cloud

2008-01-30T22:56:00.001+05:30

Tag cloud. A tag cloud is a visualization of word frequencies. A tag cloud enables you to see how frequently words appear in a given text, or see the relationship between a column of words and a column of numbers. The more popular a tag, the bigger the text appears in the cloud. You can click on any word to jump to all the posts that “tagged” each keyword.

[Original pic by Danembraceddc]

Social jargon: Folksonomy

2008-01-30T14:35:00.001+05:30

Folksonomy. A classification scheme that uses wisdom of crowd rather than experts to parse content. The idea of a folksonomy is closely related to tagging. It’s a folksonomy if you’re doing it on a social site like flickr or Technorati. Otherwise, you could just dub it tagsonomy.

[Original pic by RichardAM]

Social jargon: Facestalk

2008-01-29T22:28:00.001+05:30

Facestalk. To look at pictures, read profile information and/or repeatedly check the status of an individual on Facebook. You can facestalk a friend, or even someone you have never met.

[Original pic by dailysnap]

Hop in and get twittering

2008-01-28T16:29:00.000+05:30

An essential introduction to how Twitter works.

[Original pic by pandemia]

The life cycle of a blog post

2008-01-28T15:43:00.000+05:30

If you are in mood for some behind-the-scenes action, here's a visual representation of the life cycle of a blog post, from Servers to Spiders to Suits - to You.

[Original pic by other things]

Web 2.0 workplaces

2008-01-27T23:47:00.000+05:30

Here's a peek into the offices of Web 2.0 companies (with a short intro for each - for the uninitiated).

[Original pic by Jerry Luke]

The Facebook Marketing Toolbox

2008-01-27T18:21:00.001+05:30

If you're considering tapping into the Facebook user database for some high-profile targeted advertising, a good look at this list of 100 tools and tips should help maximize marketing opportunities that Facebook has to offer.

[Original pic by Leo Reynolds]

Facebook: The Invasion of Friends

2008-01-25T18:45:00.001+05:30

An essential introduction to how Facebook works.

[Original pic by Inkyhack]

Everything you wanted to know about Google but didn't know whom else to ask

2008-01-24T21:48:00.001+05:30

An essential introduction to how Google works.

[Pic found via Andreia]

Web 2.0: Bridge the gap

2008-01-19T22:58:00.000+05:30

An essential introduction to how Web 2.0 works.

[Web trends map by Information Architects]

Social jargon: Googleganger

2008-01-16T15:39:00.001+05:30

Googleganger. A person with your name who shows up when you google yourself.

[Unoriginal pic by guillermomadrid]

Social jargon: Social operating system

2008-01-16T15:18:00.002+05:30

Social operating system. A social networking site like Facebook or MySpace that seamlessly integrates activities, including entertainment and shopping, to become a platform for online living.

[Original pic by vaXzine]

Social jargon: Geosniff

2008-01-16T15:10:00.001+05:30

Geosniff. To search the Web by location, delivering regionally pertinent information to users and regionally pertinent users to advertisers.

[Original pic by Eloise Mason]

Social jargon: Bacn

2008-01-16T15:00:00.001+05:30

Bacn. Spam by request. Pronounced "bacon", bacn is email which the recipient has signed up for, yet never has time to read.

[Original pic by Sappymoosetree]

Social jargon: Faceslam

2008-01-16T14:51:00.002+05:30

Faceslam. To ignore or deny a friendship request on Facebook or any other social networking site.

[Original pic by elmada]

Social jargon: Lifestreaming

2008-01-16T14:40:00.001+05:30

Lifestreaming. An online record of a person's daily activities, either via direct video feed or via aggregating the person's online content such as blog posts, social network updates, and online photos.

[Original pic by skinr]

The next small thing...

2008-01-14T11:06:00.001+05:30

Widgets seem to be the new kids on the social networking block. While some in the silicon valley see them as the web revolution in the making, Facebbook and others ponder a remedy as they eat into social networks' ad revenues.

[Original pic by ilovemayalopez]

United in sameness

2008-01-13T17:29:00.000+05:30

Technology may be a great leveler in opportunities but probably not as much when it comes to attitude - where for now it has to merely content itself with mirroring societal values. Here's a study that reveals that Facebook and Myspace users reflect a class divide. The first are more likely to be college graduates from wealthier homes; and the latter high school dropouts from broken homes.

[Original pic by gabe gross]

Social Video 101

2008-01-13T17:21:00.000+05:30

A primer on viral marketing.

[Original pic by Nadya Peek]