Internet, News

3 Ways Steve Jobs & Apple Ushered the Mobile Marketing Age [Infographic]

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Mobile Marketing Statistics

As a professional who has been in the online marketing world since it’s birth, “mobile marketing” was the “next big thing” touted in every marketing conference for the past 6 years. I was always skeptical because, mobile was ALWAYS mentioned as the next big frontier, but I saw no medium in which the marketing ads could be delivered. There was no evidence or the numbers to back that claim.

Then came the iPhone, which changed everything. (RIP Steve Jobs).
Steve Jobs picture RIP

Apple iPhone (Steve Jobs) Ushers in the New Age of Mobile Marketing

Those who are just now reading articles about how Steve Jobs was a great visionary may not realize how much he really revolutionized every industry he touched. He isn’t just the CEO who introduced the iPod or the bringer of the iPhone. He literally led the way in creating products and ecosystems that created brand new industries and as a result thousands and thousands of jobs. Numerous companies out there can give some credit to their existence and growth to much of what Steve Jobs contributed to the technology sector. Think about the 100s of companies centered around building apps, or building games for the phone, apple product accessories, geo-location marketing companies, or mobile marketing service agencies. Think of all those companies centered around some product or service related to the digital music / mp3 market which not that long ago was owned by big media, then by organizations like Napster. Think about whole divisions created to tap into and create applications on tablets or all the cool little startups utilizing the social mobility of smartphones. Think about all the executives out there, innovators in their own right, sharing how Steve Jobs helped them conceptualize and grow their own companies. Apple products drove the strategy and goals of other competitors from big music labels, computer makers to phone carriers. The list goes on and on. There is a reason why Steve Job’s death has had led to such huge ripples across the nation. RIP Steve Jobs. Thanks so much for everything.

Just one of such industries that changed forever, is the mobile market.

How did the Apple iPhone change the mobile landscape?

Smartphone Becomes the Norm:
To put it simply, the iPhone made having a smartphone the norm. Only a few years back, very few had smartphones. Smartphones were reserved for the executives of big companies, mainly in the form of the blackberry. No one thought about using it as a “personal” device. It was too expensive, too hefty, seemed a bit complex. It was seen as a “professional” device. Everyone had flip phones and were content.

Then the iPhone became the “apple” of everyone’s attention. (oh no you didn’t!)

Simple. Affordable. Snazzy. Hip. Apple said, hey you want it. You need it. You can get cool apps on it. You can play games on it. You need a calendar. You need to access email instantly. You need it to watch videos. You need it to text with a bigger screen. All of syncs with your computer really easily so it’s easy to use. It was cool, it was hip, the iPhone.

Steve Jobs iPhoneSteve Jobs drove Apple to create a product that is simple and affordable for the public. Just like the iPod, iPhones took the basics of what mass consumers use (surfing the net, watching videos, taking pictures, texting), and created a product that did those things well and made it easy to use. While most of the technology world was still competing over adding more and more complex features, Apple focused on the core-uses of the consumer and made it simple and easy. Suddenly smartphones became a personal device that everyone must have. As everyone started to buy iPhones, other mobile phone competitors jumped on the bandwagon, recognizing the shift in the market. Now everyone and their mother, and their teenager daughter has an iPhone. I’ve seen kids still in middle school with the iTouch giving them free access to the internet. Which I have problems with, but that is another story.

Easier to Browse the Internet
The iPhone has also made it much easier to browse the web. Once checking the internet on your phone was so painful, that often it was just not worth it. You would have to click 24 times just to get to the article you wanted. It would be hard to read, the links were the infamous blue, taking up half the screen. Clicking on it was impossible unless you had petite fingers. Not to mention the tiny screens where web formats would break or a unfriendly page of blue links dominated the user experience. It wasn’t worth it. Don’t even get started on the ads.

The iPhone suddenly made surfing the internet, easy and simple. It was just like browsing on the computer, just on a smaller screen. Full browser, full experience (minus the flash! save the complaints!). No more nasty mobile ad formats and spammy links or 14 clicks to get back to the homepage. Surfing the net on the mobile phone became a reality.

Created an App Ecosystem

The iPhone also did a fantastic job courting developers and creating a whole “app” centered world. All kinds of creative apps were developed, as well as numerous ways to connect with the consumer. There are so many interesting and creative geo-centered applications, interest based apps, productivity apps, and all of these apps became an avenue in which marketers can use to engage the users.

Mobile Marketing becomes Legit

What Steve Jobs and Apple did was legitimize ads on mobile phones. With the iPhone, it put smartphones in the hands on the consumer, it provided a good browsing experience like nothing before, and created an world of applications which opened up even more avenues to reach the consumer.

For the last year and a half, mobile marketing has become a huge play in the online marketing world. In fact in most industries, Mobile Marketing paid traffic you can find on Google alone will be greater than all of the traffic from Yahoo / Bing Paid Search combined. The quality has dramatically improved because users can actually read, click and engage the companies that serve the ads.

So for all you working in some field related to mobile marketing, give a little thanks to the innovations of Apple.

Mobile Marketing Statistics

Enjoy the mobile marketing statistics info graphic below.

Some of the highlights:

  • 4 Billion Mobile Phones in Use
  • 1.08 Billion Smartphones in Use
  • 3.05 Billion are SMS enabled phones.
  • By 2014, mobile internet should take over desktop internet usage.
  • 50% of all local searches are performed on mobile devices.
  • 86% of mobile internet users are using their devices while watching TV
  • 200 Million Youtube Views occur on mobile devices

Average American spends 2.7 hours per day on their mobile device – socializing.

  • 61% of users use their mobile phones for Games
  • 55% to check the Weather
  • 50% for Maps and Direction search
  • 49% for Social Networking
  • 42% for Music
  • 36% for News
  • 33% for Entertainment
  • 25% for Dining
  • 21% for Video

Take our poll below and tell us how YOU use your mobile device!

[poll id=”28″]

Mobile Marketing Infographic Statistics

Mobile Marketing Infographic Statistics

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Internet, Social Media

Most Followed Twitter Users & Brands [Infographic]

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Twitter Growth History Visualized

Twitter has been growing very quickly and has changed a lot over time. In the beginning many were wondering, what was the point? Is it a bunch of teenagers chatting away?

Slowly twitter is becoming more defined as a medium of communication for businesses, brands, celebrities, customer service and a place to connect to professionals and those with similar interests. Twitter has also become a valid source of news information and quick way get a pulse on any trending topic.

Twitter Follow Me Button

Don’t forget to follow Clean Cut Media!


Some highlights from “A Visual History of Twitter” plus additional Twitter Statistics:

Record Breaking Tweet Events

  • Beyonce announces she’s expecting at the VMAs (Aug 2011): 8,868 Tweets per Second
  • Japan defeats the US in the FIFA Women’s World Cup (July 2011): 7,196 Tweets per Second
  • Japanese Twitter users set New Year’s 2011 record (Jan 2011): 7,000 Tweets per Second

Key Historical Moments for Twitter

  • July 15 2006 – Twitter Launches
  • March 2008 – 1.3 Million Twitter Users
  • April 2010 – 105 Million Twitter Users
  • September 2011 – 200 Million Twitter Users (150 Active Users

Most Followed Twitter Accounts are Celebrities (# Updated 9/30/2011)

  • #1 Lady Gaga – 14,022,983 Twitter Followers (what has the world come to)
  • #2 Justin Bieber – 12,980,136 Twitter Followers (admit it, you follow him!)
  • #3 Barack Obama – 10,304,434 Twitter Followers (rather follow obama than lady bieber)

Most Followed Non-Celebrity Accounts!

  • #1 Twitter – 6,209,226 Twitter Followers
  • #2 Twitpic – 5,354,829 Twitter Followers
  • #3 CNN Breaking News – 5,181,132 Twitter Followers (makes sense)
  • #4 Youtube – 4,943,411 Twitter Followers (also 45 million+ Facebook Fans)
  • #5 UberSocial – 4,299,424 Twitter Followers (who?…)

More Notable Brands on Twitter

  • #7 Google – 3,643,488
  • #25 ESPN – 1,892,510
  • #35 Starbucks – 1,725,548
  • #46 Facebook – 1,558,384 (/cleancutmedia)
  • #66 Itunes – 1,266,248
  • #70 Southwest – 1,175,353
  • #118 Coca Cola – 378,256
  • #135 Foursquare – 292,700
  • #180 McDonalds – 171,304
  • #221 Amazon – 122,325
  • #N/A  (help us move up the ranks!)

Interesting Twitter Statistics

  • 81% of users follow less than 100 people
  • 61% of all tweets are in English, 39% is not!
  • 42.3% of Twitter users are between 30 & 49 years old. (oldies!)
  • 30% of the users have an annual household income over $100,000 (I need some more twitter friends!)
  • Males – More likely to use Twitter for work-related research & news (true…)
  • Females – More likely to keep in touch with friends and post status updates (no comment)
  • 5% of users create 75% of the content (is that you?)

Enjoy the infographic below! Let us know what you thought was interesting!

Twitter Growth History Infographic

Twitter Statistics Infographic Growth

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News, Social Media

Facebook Success Summit Conference 2011

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Facebook Success Summit 2011 [Conference]

For the Social Media Marketers and those who are interested in the growth of Facebook and how businesses are using it, I wanted to highlight a conference called the “Facebook Success Summit 2011”. It is a conference that is completely online thus doesn’t require you to travel.

19 social media experts will hold various web seminars to discuss what they’ve learned and the successful strategies they use. They are basically answer the question:

“What do experienced marketers and business owners know and do with Facebook that makes them so successful?”

Facebook Success Summit Review

I personally attended the Facebook Success Summit last year and found it to be pretty helpful. For 90% of the people out there who do not have an extensive background in Facebook, they would find this conference super helpful as it really does cover a lot of different aspects of Facebook marketing and Facebook uses. For the other 10% who have a decent working knowledge of Facebook, you will still find it useful.

I will be attending again this year.
Just so you know this isn’t just hollow words. I work at a small firm, we are highly selective of what we attend and highly sensitive to price. It’s worth it.

Here are what I consider the biggest benefits of Facebook Summit:
Facebook Success Summit Conference

  • No travel – All Online Webinars
  • Session Recordings – Miss a seminar? watch the recording.
  • Ask Questions – Ask lot of those pesky social media questions that you can’t find answers on the web from actual people who’ve done social media. Social media is growing rapidly, there is no true “expert” in this growing field, but there are those with a lot more experience. This summit will have many of those speaking about their experience.
  • Network & Private Forum – There is a private Linkedin group you can join. This was the most useful as a huge FAQ discussion starts to form in there where everyone asks all the questions they ever had and others who are in the know chime in and discuss the answers. I found this to a great resource.
  • Cheap & Money Back Guarantee – As this conference is online, it’s considerably cheaper than those $2,500-3,500 conference which also involve hotel costs, travel costs and so on. If you sign up before SEPT 15th, it’s only $297 (50% off). I was not a math major, but price will probably double that after that date. Also after the first 2 days, you can cancel for a full refund if you think it’s not for you.
  • UPDATE: It is now $397 – 34% off ($200 off original price). This sale ends Sept 20th.

Facebook Success Summit Seminars Samples [FSSSS!]

Below are some Seminar Samples:

  • 5 Steps to a Successful Facebook Marketing Strategy
  • 7 Proven Strategies to Grow and Engage Your Facebook Fans
  • How to Build and Manage a Thriving Facebook Community
  • Gain Insight and Sales with Facebook Commerce
  • How to Successfully Measure Facebook Marketing Campaigns
  • Don’t Sell on Facebook! Make it Easy & Compelling to Buy: How & Why
  • How to Build a Loyal Fan Base Using Facebook
  • How Big Consumer Brands are Using Facebook
  • Facebook Application Development for Dummies
  • 10 Ways to Bring the Power of Facebook to Your Website

I always like the more hands-on, practical seminars which this summit provides. On top of this you’ll get 16 free bonus webinars (I assume from past events and blog seminars they’ve had…)

Link to Facebook Success Summit Information Page / Sign up Page

Who should attend this Facebook Conference?

Straight from their site:
The Small Business Owner: You’re looking for a boost—likely a consultant, coach, local business owner, writer, agent, blogger, artist or general “gun for hire”—and see the potential of Facebook marketing, but want to speed your path to success with the least effort and the greatest return.

The Corporate Marketer: You work for a corporation and have been tasked to manage the company’s Facebook initiative. You likely face internal battles to convey how Facebook could help the company, but you know there’s real potential.

The Experienced Social Media User: You’ve been using Facebook for a while, but want better results. You’re ready to take your business to a whole new level by following the proven tactics of the pros and leveraging the latest techniques. Better response. Less work. More profitability.

LET US KNOW IN COMMENTS IF YOU ARE ATTENDING and WHO YOU ARE!
It’s $297 up until Sept 15th (early bird). Then price doubles.

UPDATE: It is now $397 – 34% off ($200 off original price). This sale ends Sept 20th.
Link to Facebook Success Summit Information Page / Sign up Page

Some More Facebook Statistics

  • 92% of Marketers use Facebook
  • 75% of Marketers plan to increase their use of Facebook in 2011
  • 44% of North America companies see Facebook as important or critical to their marketing plans.
  • 750 million active Facebook users
  • 31% of Facebook users are on the site multiple times a day (Pew Internet & American Life)
  • 1 of 6 minutes online are spent on Social Networking sites (ComScore)
  • 24% of consumers consult Facebook friends before making a purchase (Edison Research)
  • 53% of Facebook users would recommend brands to friends.
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Internet, Social Media

Study says Facebook Users are Narcissist! [Study]

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Child using Laptop MediaFacebook & Social Networking Influences on Children

As social media continues to grow in popularity, we are slowly starting to see more psycholgical research regarding the risks and benefits of social media / social networking use.

In a talk called “Poke Me: How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids,” Larry D. Rosen PhD, professor of psychology at California State University, Dominquez Hills, discussed the negative effects social media (e.g. Facebook) has had on children. Rosen conducted a study to determine how overuse of Facebook can lead to the development of psychological disorders in teens. The study was based on a sample size of 1,000 urban adolescents.

Negative points of note:

  • Teens who use Facebook show more narcissistic tendencies.
  • Young adults who use Facebook show more psychological issues such as mania, anti-social behavior and aggression.
  • Children who overuse media and technology (ex. Facebook, Video Games, TV) tends to show negative effects on health. They are more prone to depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems.
  • Middle school, high school and college students who checked Facebook frequently received lower grades as Facebook served as a distraction from studies.

Note all research was negative. Below are some positive influences of social networking.

Positive points of note:

  • Adolescents learn how to socialize
  • Young adults who use Facebook are better at showing “virtual empathy”.

Are these really “Positive” Facebook Influences?

I am not sure whether these “positives” are much of a positive at all. It is good to learn “virtual empathy” but in the long run, time is better spend for a child or an adult to learn REAL LIFE empathy. The practice of interacting and socializing in real life context may cause some awkwardness and anxiety, but it is important for children and adults alike to practice so we can become fully functioning contributors to society, our friends, and our families. I do agree that social network does have incremental opportunities to interact and socialize with others, especially those who live far away, but the fear here is when people start to opt to send messages, emails, wall posts over phone calls and real life interactions where real life opportunities are lost.

Larry Rosen’s Advice for Social Networking Use for Children

Larry Rosen, offered some advice for parents by encouraging them to pay attention to the online trends and the latest technologies they are using but be aware that it will be difficult to monitor all of your child’s social networking activities.

“If you feel that you have to use some sort of computer program to surreptitiously monitor your child’s social networking, you are wasting your time. Your child will find a workaround in a matter of minutes,” he said. “You have to start talking about appropriate technology use early and often and build trust, so that when there is a problem, whether it is being bullied or seeing a disturbing image, your child will talk to you about it.”

Social Networking Monitoring Softwares

Despite Rosen’s comments about monitoring your children, if you feel a desire to protect your child from harm, different Social Networking Monitoring tools are slowly coming to public. One such option is ZoneAlarm Social Guard. I have not used this product before, so please by all means, if you have any feedback please share in the comments below. Video introduction of ZoneAlarm Social Guard is below.

Click Here for More Info: ZoneAlarm Social Guard

Social Monitoring Tool Features:

  • Alerts you of “friends” who are much older than they claim to be.
  • Alerts you of inappropriate discussions about drugs, suicide, violence, and sex.
  • Alerts you of inappropriate links that is shared with your child.
  • Alerts you of discussions that suggest cyberbulling.
  • Parents do not need to be on Facebook to receive alerts.
  • Watches your signs that your child’s account has been hacked.

Share Your Thoughts on Social Media Usage

[poll id=”24″]

  • What is your thoughts on this study?
  • What are some other positive and negative effects you see of using Facebook?
  • In the name of irony – like our Clean Cut Media’s Facebook Page
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Social Media

Social Media Consume 1 out of every 6 Minutes

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Social Media Icons Facebook Twitter YouTube

Social Networks all Consuming: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter & More

Time spent on social networking has doubled since 2007. Facebook, Twitter leads the way in the ever growing social media presence. ComScore released their latest figures on this social media growth.

The average U.S. online user spends 1 out of every 6 minutes on a social networking site.

Astounding Social Media Growth

That is a whopping 16% of all online time compared to a mere 8% in 2007. Facebook leads the with 700+ million users but many social network sites like Linkedin, Twitter, and Tumblr hit all time record highs this past month of May. Linkedin recorded 33.4 million visitors in May 2011 while showing 58% overall growth from 2010. Twitter 27 million, a 13% growth from 2011. Tumblr 10.7 million with an amazing 166% growth from last year. Tumblr seems to be experiencing a sudden surge of popularity this year.

Linkedin Twitter Statistics Social

Facebook is currently the 4th largest web property with 157.2 million visitors just in the month of May reaching 73% of the total internet population every month.

Social Networking Statistics Facebook Linkedin

Linkedin IPO – Social IPOs are Coming

A new wave of IPOs are starting to pop up as Groupon and Linkedin recently went public to spectacular public offerings. Pandora just double it’s price due to demand. Facebook also has plans to IPO as early as next year. Other tech companies such as LivingSocial, Zynga and Twitter are still abuzz and potentially going public as well. Are these companies worth the evaluations they are seeing? We have yet to see. So much of the value is based on potential and potential only at this point.

  • What are your thoughts on this growth? Will it continue?
  • 1 in 6 minutes are spent on social sites.. good or bad?

Share your thoughts here and on our Facebook Page

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Social Media, Video

Improv Everywhere at GEL Social Media Conference. [Video]

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Improv Everywhere Social MediaImprove Everywhere Social Media Conference


Something about this video tells me “I Gotta Share…”

Improv Everywhere, a well known improv group that became famous for bursting into spontaneous musicals at random public places, appears at a bonified social media conference in New York called the “GEL Conference” to sing about how connected (obsessed?) we are to social media. It is already a testament to the growth of social media that there are social media business conferences just about social media. Remember just a few years ago, facebook, twitter and the concept of social media was not well known! Enjoy.

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Internet, Social Media

Does Social Media Work for Small Business?

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Social Media Marketing Benefits

Social Media Usage by Small Businesses

Social Media is in a very interesting stage of it’s life in terms of how it is used by different businesses and organizations. It’s growth is undeniable but the level of usage varies across the board. Many companies have jumped in. Some are showing great profits, others just see it as a good “brand” play, while others are skeptical just dipping their toes and seeing what happens. It reminds me where SEM and SEO was just 6-7 years ago when businesses would hire interns to figure it out for them. But look where online marketing is now…

A full fledged social media play may not be for everyone, but no matter what business or organization you run, there is great benefit of using this medium to interact with your customer. Whether it is to drive sales, gain brand exposure, to get feedback from customers, or perhaps to lower cost of customer service, there is numerous ways social media is being used with great results. See this nifty little video below:

Social Media Is Becoming More Important

Michael Stelzner has released his third annual social media study that surveys 3342 marketers, half of whom are small business owners. Here are a few key points found in the study:

  • Important: 90% say social media is important to their business
  • Increased Exposure: 88% of social media marketers found social media increases their exposure
  • Increased Traffic & Subscriptions: 72% of social media marketers found increased traffic and subscriptions
  • New Partnerships: 56% reported gaining new partnerships via social media
  • Improved Sales: 48% of small business owners saw improved sales as a direct result of social media efforts
  • Reduction in Marketing Costs: Small Business Owners were more likely than others to see reduction in marketing costs due to social media marketing
  • Get Qualified Leads: Small Business owners twice as likely to find qualified leads via social media efforts
  • Video Marketing: 77% of marketers plan on increasing their YouTube and Video Marketing.
  • Facebook Still King: 92% of marketers are using Facebook, 75% plan on increasing their activities

Social Media Icons Facebook Twitter YouTube

Time Equals Money in Social Media

This report also showed that the more time businesses invested in social media, the higher the success rate. For example:

  • 80% of those with 3+ years of experience in social media marketing report forming new partnerships. (25% for less than 3 years)
  • Those who spend 6+ Hours per week are TWICE as likely to generate social media leads as those spending less than 5 Hours per week.

Social Media Marketing Hours

Download the Full Report Here: Social Media Marketing Report 2011

Social Media on Clean Cut Media

For the curious, Clean Cut Media has both a Facebook and a Twitter Account.

Clean Cut Media Facebook : ‘Like’ Us!
Clean Cut Media Twitter : ‘Follow’ Us!

For Clean Cut Media, Facebook is the second largest referral of traffic after Google. Our readers have been gracious enough to post our articles on their walls (thanks it really helps!).

  • Let us know if you found social media helpful for your business or organization.
  • What has worked well, and not well?
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Art & Design, Creativity Series, Social Media

Twitter used by our Founding Fathers [Comic]

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Twitter used by our Founding Fathers?

I saw this comic, and thought it was pretty darn hilarious. These kind of comics use a lot of exaggeration in terms of social media use, but in it’s own way captures some of the downside of social media use as well.

Proper citations! This comic was illustrated by Kiersten Essenpreis, a New York-based artist. Obviously was written for Mashable which has a series of these kind of comics. This one happened to be the funniest. Great job Kiersten. Look forward to more!

By the way Clean Cut Media has it’s own twitter account, follow us! ==

Twitter Comic Founding Fathers

  • Let us know if you found that funny!
  • Then visit some of other funny twitter video links below!
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News, Social Media

Change Your New HTTPS Facebook Privacy Settings Now

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Facebook Logo - Large Square

Facebook Brings HTTPS Protocol Controls

Facebook is finally rolling out the option to use encrypted “HTTPS” protocol. Turn it on immediately!

HTTPS WHAT? What in the world does that mean you say?

Long story short – Without it, your information is sent and received without any protection (encryption). When you login, let’s just say it stores it in files called “cookies” so websites know each time you click around that it’s you! Attackers can hijack these cookies especially on wireless networks. It’s actually quite easy to do. When you log into GMAIL notice it’s all “https” because it’s protecting your information. Good for them. Facebook? FAIL.

Firesheep Facebook Hijack

There is even simple plugins (e.g. firesheep) that allows anyone to hijack without being much of a hack nerd themselves. Stealing 30 some identities within 30 minutes – easy. Oops did I just create more hackers? Resist the urge fellas!

When Facebook Rolling out this Feature! I Want It!

Facebook should be rolling out to all users today, but seems to be taking their sweet ol’ time, so you may or may not see it yet.

So how do you do it?

Go to “Account Settings” then to “Account Security” and look for “Secure Browsing”. Check it. If you don’t see it, check it later.

While you are there, see “Account Activity” below. Did someone ELSE login to your account from New York when you live in San Francisco? Yikes! Better end his\her session and go change your password…

Facebook HTTPS Privacy

BOOKMARK: Also update your BOOKMARK to have “https” as opposed to “http”.

Note that encryption does take a little bit longer to load so you may see pages opening more slowly. Also note, this is just for websites, your Facebook iPhone app has no such security.

Did you Change your Security Settings?

  • Were you able to make the security change?
  • Did you know that your Facebook connection was not secure?
  • Did you find anyone else logged into your account?
  • Scared?

Update [02.04]: After waiting a week, I finally saw the settings available on my personal account. Facebook took it’s sweet time. Are you seeing it too?

Don’t forget to fan our cleancutmedia facebook page here!

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Internet, Social Media

$1B Social Gaming Market plus w/ $653M in Virtual Good Spend!

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Social Gaming is a Billion Dollar Market

This year, social gaming is expected to become a billion dollar market according to an emarketer report. One Billion Dollars. 62 million US internet users (27% of all online audience) will play at least one game on a social network this year. Social Gaming is gaming that is done through social networks such as Facebook, that integrates social connections in the game itself. Some games supposedly integrate the connections deeply into the game play, but most are simply constructed to let others know of your status in the game and in essence “spamming” others to entice them to join.

I’m sure you’ve seen them, maybe on Facebook, “Bob has leveled up to warrior class 3 and found the golden lamp”. You get enough of those, you start wanting to hurt Bob.

Billion Dollars!? How? What are players buying?

In 2011, US Consumers will spend $653 million on virtual goods in social games alone compared to $510 last year. Virtual goods is the user of money to buy more levels, weapons, hit points, items and so on. Yes, you use money to buy virtual weapons. Much of these goods tend to be low cost in nature, but when all the small spends are added up, it amounts to a huge amount of money.

In addition ad spending in social games is projected to make up $192 million, a whopping 60% increase from 2010.

Mind Boggling Virtual Goods Revenue

If you thought that was mind-boggling. Forget social gaming. As a whole, Ted Sorom, the CEO of Risty, a virtual currency platform reported that the expected global revenue by the virtual goods industry in 2010 is $7,300,000,000. That is over 7 billion dollars. 2.1 billion is from the US alone.

CityVille Virtual GoodsThink about this: Farmville’s all time high number of players if 80 million players. Cityville is recently reported reaching 100 million players. That is why I am announcing that I am currently working on games Metroville and Starville. I am going to be rich.

How is it that people spend so much money on virtual items?

Don’t forget there is virtual real estate. You can buy virtual real estate and it will appreciate in value… (I think a piece of me just died).

90,000,000: # of Pet Society Virtual Goods sold Every Day.
$635,000: World Record for single largest purchase in an online game. Yes. Online Game purchase. It was the virtual intergalactic resort in Planet Calypso. Yes. Different planet. Users actually make $100,000s of dollars in buying and selling online real estate. I on the otherhand sold a digital camera once on craigslist. I’m awesome.
10%: Percentage of overall items being resold in the after market in OurWorld. This gaming destination aggregates hundreds of third-party games into virtual world with 16,000+ virtual items.

  • Are you baffled by this?
  • Do you see why these purchase might be legitimate?
  • Did a piece of you die too?

Let us know below in the comments.

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Social Media

Social Networks Help or Hurt Social Interaction?

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Facebook Logo - Large SquareImpact of Social Media on Real Life Social Interaction

The impact of social media on actual live social interaction really cuts both ways. Yes it does open a venue in which people can hide behind their computer, interact through online personalities, and perhaps under-develop their social abilities. It’s so much easier to comment or like someone’s post or post up updates about your own life. But in the same time, it does open a venue in which friends can interact more often which in itself can lead them to hang out more in the real world and keep up with one another when you probably wouldn’t have done so in the real world to begin with. There are many arguments and reports that go both ways, and I am certain it’s not black and white as many arguments on both sides are valid.

Social Mythbusting Report

One such study was released by ExactTarget and CoTweet, which showed the large social networking sites are not having a negative effect on face-to-face relations. Note the claim is face-to-face relation, not necessarily negative effects in social ability or personal development or any other topics that are tempting to drag into the conversation.

The study consisted of studying a series of focus groups of 44 people as well as a survey of 1,506 US citizens. The research showed that among people who report they’re using Facebook more than before, 27% say they hang with friends in person more often as well. 13% say they hang out less. A full 60% said there is no significant impact whatsoever. The trend is even greater amongst Twitter users showing 46% say they hang out with friends more while 7% said less.

Issues with Social Media Report

Of course let’s keep a few things in mind before we just consume anything and everything media tells us. If we didn’t we wouldn’t be Clean Cut Media!

First, the CoTweet is a social media management tool, meaning it benefits from good press for social media. If Facebook came out with a report saying users of Facebook tends to have more friends and happier lives, you would take it with a grain of salt right? Same here. I am not questioning their validity of the data, but when you conduct experience but are hoping for a specific result – it can have an impact on the methods that are used to carry it out.

Secondly, the data was gathered from people who are using Facebook and Twitter more than before. Let’s say you love watching NFL football, and over time you watch it more and more because you are getting more invested in your favorite team. Let’s say a study was conducted to determine if you have become more violent because you watch more NFL. Let’s be honest with ourselves, most likely, we wouldn’t be inclined to agree to that. Why? Because we like the NFL. We want to do more of it. We don’t want something to say what we do is bad for us. This is a huge factor in the discussion over violence with video games. If you like playing violent games, you are less likely to agree violent games make it more likely that in a strenuous situation that you may resort to violence. Seems like the same argument can be made for social media. You love facebook? You’ve been using it more and more? Your mom questions that it’s making you a social fart, that your skin color is getting pale, and you are becoming more distant – you would argue that point. “I am more aware of what my friends are going through.” “This let’s me grow closer to them.” “It gives me stuff to talk about.” “It’s fun.”

What are your thoughts?

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This is obvious an interesting discussion. What are your thoughts on this matter?

  • Does Social Sites like Facebook, help or hurt social interaction?
  • In what ways?
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Social Media

How is Twitter Doing? What is it For!

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How has Twitter Evolved Over the Years?

Twitter is still a hot thing, just not the hottest thing.
Twitter still has major potential and worth a whole lot of money, but it got a lot of work to do and must do it quickly to capitalize on it’s current fame.

A new study from Barracuda Labs studying 19 million Twitter accounts show that only 21% of Twitter users are active users. Active was defined as having at least 10 followers, following at least 10 people and have at least tweeted 10 times.

Let’s just get some statistics out of the way here!

  • 26% of Twitter users had 10 followers or more
  • 40% of Twitter users were following 10 people or more
  • 51% of Twitter users were following less than 5 people
  • 34% of Twitter users have not tweeted at ALL
  • 73% of Twitter users tweeted less than 10 times
  • This means that almost all of tweets come from 27% of the users.

What is the Point of Twitter?

For the majority of internet users, if they were asked what the purpose of Twitter was, they would draw a blank. No worries. You are not alone.

Twitter still hasn’t found a unique and clear identity, however, what we do know is this:

1) Social Media is Growing: Social Media continues to grow at a rapid rate. Also Facebook is carefully and strategically integrating itself throughout the web through Facebook Connect and those seemingly everywhere – “like” buttons. Trust me, it is more significant than you think. Something perhaps worth sharing in a different post.

Social Networking Growth

Firmly in the middle of this is twitter, the leader of micro-blogs. This is why they are valued so highly because no matter where the web heads, they are on a premiere position to capitalize on their huge user base.

2) Twitter is being used in several unique ways that are becoming more firm and established.

Here are a few.

  • Breaking News
  • Customer Service – saves $
  • Thought Leadership / Personal Branding
  • Humanize Corporations / Customer Learning
  • Viral Marketing

Twitter Awareness Statistics

Edison Research and ARbitron Internet recently surveyed 1,753 Americans revealing that awareness of twitter has grown tremendously in the last few years.

2008: 5% were aware of Twitter
2009: 26% were aware of Twitter
2010: 87% were aware of Twitter

Awareness of Twitter Statistics

Twitter vs Facebook Usage Statistics

Though Twitter is now as well known as Facebook, it continues to lag behind in actual usage.

Twitter Facebook Usage Comparison

More Twitter Usage Statistics

Twitter Usage Statistics

Twitter Demographics Statistics

I am not using Twitter. So who is using Twitter anyway?
Is it just a bunch of kids tweeting away?

People might be surprised to know that twitter has an older demographic than one may initially think. Twitter is actually not adopted amongst the teenagers as much as people initially would have guessed. In fact 71% of Twitter users are 25 and older. Much of Twitter is also used by business professionals, marketers, corporations and quickly becoming a great medium for businesses to engage their customers.

Twitter Demographic Statistics
Twitter Ethnicity Statistics

Twitter Users are Educated

You may look at Twitter and say how pointless it is, however Twitter has very high adoption rates with educated individuals and those with higher incomes. It has become useful for networking and connecting to other professionals as well as a great source for reading up on the news.

Twitter Education Statistics

Twitter Users are Mobile

25% of Facebook users access Facebook using a mobile app or browser. Twitter, probably due to it’s simplicity and a long list of third party apps, show 63% of users have accessed the service with their mobile phone.

Twitter is an Exchange for Products and Services

Twitter is also becoming a key way to engage consumers, customers and networking with other professionals. Over 40% of users use Twitter to learn about products and services. 28% are using  Twitter to find discounts and special offers. 20% seek customer support. On the business end, over 30% have used it to poll their customers and users and many corporations have adopted Twitter as a way to serve their customers (while cutting down customer service costs!).

Twitter Follow Brands

More Stats for the Twitter Business Mind

Interesting Data on When Twitter Users are most Active. Useful if you are a twitter marketer trying to determine the optimal time to reach your users.

Highest Usage Days: Thursday & Friday
Lowest Usage Days: Saturday & Sunday

Twitter Usage By Day Statistics

Twitters are Night Owls

Twitter Hour by Hour Statistics

Other Rule of Thumb Advice:

  • More you tweet links, the less likely people are going to click those links
  • Know when your user are most active and tweet during those times to maximize engagement
  • Highest click thru rate tends to be early evening right after work hours.
  • Weekend has lowest volume but has shown highest click rates
  • Fridays have the highest % of retweets

Share your thoughts on Twitter

  • So Are you a Twitter User?
  • Do you think Twitter is useful?
  • Do you think Twitter is a fad or is it here to stay?


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