- Hubspot and SEOmoz just released the results of their Social Media Marketing survey and yesterday announced the results during a webinar - their blog post about the survey - http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33504/new-data-reveals-how-marketers-use-social-media-infographic - the webinar is on-demand and you can sign up at http://www.hubspot.com/state-of-seo-and-internet-marketing/ - the survey results are accompanied by a detailed infographic highlighting which social tools are being used most
- Last week the VOC was predictably swift and brutal as Progressive Insurance seemed to stoke the fires of discontent by replying with an automated "bobble head Flo" response to Matt Fisher's viral post "My Sister Paid Progressive to Defend Her Killers." Given the highly competitive insurance industry, the surprising part was just how ill-prepared Progressive was for the perfect PR storm and the reputation management crisis that ensued. http://socialmediatoday.com/localspeak/733746/progressive-social-media-s-not-going-flo http://www.marketwatch.com/story/progressives-social-media-fail-may-be-warning-2012-08-21
- Computer hacking collective Anonymous claims it has attacked a number of Government websites in protest over the Julian Assange case.Websites including that of the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice were affected by the group, which has been using the hashtag "OpFreeAssange" on Twitter. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet-security/9490423/Anonymous-hackers-target-Government-websites-in-support-of-WikiLeaks-founder-Julian-Assange.html
- In the day's biggest social news, USA Today parent company Gannett bought social media ad company Blinq - story at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-08-21/gannett-acquires-blinq-media/57191320/1 - this highlights a growing trend of traditional publishing companies merging or buying social companies as a sign of coming integration of social components into traditional media websites.
- Ever since Mitt Romney was accused of purchasing fake Twitter followers, this topic has continued to gain traction. Recently, a new tool was launched for people to check how many "fake followers" people have. The tool is located at http://fakers.statuspeople.com/ and to take a look at which company Twitter accounts have the most fake followers, a study was done by Business Insider at http://www.businessinsider.com/these-company-twitter-handles-have-the-most-fake-followers-2012-8
- In the area of social travel, a popular app called TagWhat - http://tagwhat.com/ - announced some new social features. One in particular, the TagWhat Superslider, integrates not only multimedia slideshows but also real-time feeds from Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare related to your location, giving you the ultimate tour guide during your travels. More from their press release located at http://www.travel-impact-newswire.com/2012/08/first-app-to-deliver-real-time-web-and-social-network-content-about-visited-spots/#axzz24HHBdbUV
- Social analytics firm Topsy released Topsy Pro Analytics, which now provides browser based access to their vast database of hundreds of billions of tweets. Their press release can be found at http://about.topsy.com/company/press/topsy-releases-topsy-pro-analytics-worlds-most-powerful-social-analytics-tool/
- In a weird mashup of Facebook's timeline and Klout is a new tool from PeopleBrowsr called KredStory. They provide a pretty unique way of viewing social media activity as a "visual stream" and allows you to navigate shared content by zooming and scrolling in a timeline fashion. More details are at http://www.promotionworld.com/news/press/120821-kred-launches-kred-story-visual-stream-exploring-social-media-influence
- Hearst Digital Media announced a partnership with mulu.me which is an interesting take on social TV being looked at by a more traditional and longstanding media group. The press release for this announcement and the new product can be found at http://uspolitics.einnews.com/pr_news/111160743/hearst-digital-media-partners-with-social-commerce-platform-mulu-me-to-launch-the-mulubox
- An interesting study was released yesterday by DigitalMR and Cicero showing which banks and financial institutions have the biggest social presence. The press release can be found at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/8/prweb9791157.htm
- A few stories on the increasingly popular topic of college athletes and social media highlight the growing schism between the NCAA and young athletes used to using social networks like Twitter and Facebook - Good story in a Kentucky newspaper about this topic - http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/state/ky-universities-monitor-athletes-social-media/article_47dd23fe-6a2b-502d-84d6-a49c4c7cda58.html
- Great social media case study from retailer Nine West - including a story from Chain Store Age highlighting their YouTube channel http://www.chainstoreage.com/article/nine-west-launches-youtube-network-leverage-social-media
CORRECTION
Yesterday's story about GiveBrand had the wrong link associated with it. The correct link is at http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/08/20/givebrand-launches-free-personal-branding-service-help-job-seekers-stand-out-crowd