Twitter Flies

Last year, according to Hitwise, one of the fastest growing websites was Twitter.

Over 12 months, the site saw a massive increase of traffic, and the latest data ranks the microblogging site as the 291st most visited web site in the UK, up from a ranking of 2,953. UK traffic to the site increased by a whopping 974% over the period.

Hitwise also suggested that Twitter is likely to be even more popular than the figures suggest, if statistics for people accessing their accounts via mobile phones and third-party applications were included.

As most people who are familiar with Twitter will know, it has now become an important part of the internet network, helpfully driving traffic to other sites. According to Hitwise, around 10% of redirecting tweets send users to news and media sites and over 17% end up on entertainment sites, although I’m interested to see how they accurately measured this. Thoughts, anyone?

Un-Social Networking

Last year, Virgin Atlantic found employees slagging off customers on Facebook. Last week it was Tesco’s turn. Now, Waitrose has found their staff making nasty noises in the online world.

The insults aren’t particularly great – with comments calling customers pikeys, ugly, mad and smelly – which could be extremely damaging to the brand and its connotations.

Waitrose response was that it is “completely unacceptable behaviour. It goes against our codes of conduct which make it very clear that partners who post this type of material are in breach of their terms of employment….The nature of the internet makes it difficult to get content removed once posted, however we do have teams that monitor website activity and will be conducting an immediate investigation.”

Personally, I think responding favorably offline in this way is a great way of ensuring something online can be brought under control. Social media is notoriously difficult to reign in if negative views are floating around – and by reassuring customers that they’re taking the matter seriously, as well as giving off signs to staff that it won’t be tolerated, Waitrose seem to be dealing with this quite well.

LinkedIn LockedOut

It seems that cybercriminals are operating more and more now, especially in the ever-increasing social-media areas. LinkedIn is the latest victim, following the events we’ve seen on Twitter this week.

Celebrities were once unknowingly at the centre of this, as fake profiles on the site promised naughty pictures and videos – but surprise, surprise, any offer of nude pictures of Paris Hilton and Christina Aguilera linked straight to sites brimming with malware.

Trend Micro, the security experts, spotted the fake profiles earlier this week. But it was Sophos who spoke out, saying that it was a “a shame that LinkedIn aren’t keeping a closer eye on obviously bogus profiles being created on their site.”

Police go digital

Even though the UK Government has a pretty poor grasp on digital fundamentals, this doesn’t seem to have hindered our boys in blue.

The UK police has just dipped its toe properly into 2.0 applications, with the Home Office creating an interactive map for users to see how bad the crime is where they live. The Met even has it’s own private map!

I could comment on how the money could have been used to employ more officers to help prevent crimes in the first place, but I won’t, because it’s a good sign when you see organisations that are notoriously slow to use media like this, actually building and using it in a decent way. (Although the Home Office map design isn’t too hot.)

I’m still trying to find a UK force on Twitter though… Despite Downing St being online. The Americans have embraced this already, with smaller forces such as Franklin, MA and Scottsdale, AZ twittering away with the NYPD and equally impressive forces. Cyber criminals beware!

Digital World, Digital Life

New research out: More than half of all adults who meet online end up meeting face to face

Market researcher TNS Global did the study, which showed that six out of 10 adults met up with an online “friend.” It was quite a big survey too, with some 2,500 UK respondents out of  27,000 participants across 16 countries, so the data’s a good indication.

The study, Digital World, Digital Life, revealed a massive proportion of users doubt the true identity of their online friends, with 37% of respondents admitting they cannot be sure of an internet contact’s identity.

So, not so much social  networking, as just networking, then.

Social Integration

Love Twitter AND Google?

Well, now your Christmas has come early, as the micro-blogging site is about to be integrated with Google Friend Connect.

Basically, this means that when you join a friend-connected site, you can choose to use your Twitter profile and discover who you might know has also joined. You can also Tweet to the world about what’s going on.

Friend Connect lets webmasters add Google social features like chat to their Web sites with just a few clicks. Announced in May, it was launched this month, but isn’t a particularly new idea, as Facebook and MySpace have been running this for a while. (Facebook Connect and MySpaceID).

Interestingly, MySpaceID went live in the early half of the same month that Google annouced it’s Friend Connect concept. And Twitter was a partner with MSID. Even more confusing, Google partnered with MySpace to challenge Facebook.

Confused yet? This is like some social version of the whole Google-Yahoo-Microsoft saga earlier this year…

Last Social Stance

Lastminute.com’s marketing guys continue to push the boundaries, this time setting up the company on Twitter.

I see this as being a bold move, and certainly could be setting the standards for other large companies. Increasingly, research is showing us that in order to actively engage online consumers, companies need to be embracing social media. This doesn’t necessarily have to take the form of a Facebook page or a dedicated network site, but can take more simple forms, such as on-site customer reviews or a well-managed blog – the latter of which, incidentally, Lastminute have been running successfully for some time now.

Twitter is already seeing interest and activity from some companies, but for a major player like Lastminute to start tweeting could well mean that we’ll be seeing some of the more well-known businesses suddenly online this way, especially when they see how quickly Lastminute’s been gaining followers.