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Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage yesterday for the latest Facebook Townhall Q&A. He spent the better part of an hour fielding a mix of serious and silly questions about everything from virtual reality and artificial intelligence to why he doesn’t wear a different coloured shirt (he does,…

Mark Zuckerberg will be hosting his 7th Town Hall Q&A session on Tuesday the 15th of September. This much anticipated event will provide the Facebook community, and a live audience at Facebook HQ, with yet another opportunity to quiz Zuckerberg on a range of (mostly) Facebook-related topics.

The social media industry is always exciting, with new social media sites popping up all over the World Wide Web offering different concepts and uses. Two of the most notable social media platforms that have grown exponentially in recent years have not been born on an American university campus nor…

YouTube has launched a new service designed specifically for gamers, YouTube Gaming, in a brazened attempt to compete with Twitch – a company that it lost out to Amazon in trying to buy last year – in the live streaming arena. While it may…

When people think of paid advertising in social media they usually think of platforms like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Nothing wrong with that. They have hundreds of millions of users. But how about blog sites? Already blog sites offer thought-provoking and…

The UK wedding industry is worth around £10 billion every year, with an average of around £36 thousand being spent on each wedding (W.I.F.E). It’s an industry which is steeped in tradition; from the importance of wearing something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue, through…

Governments, not always naturals for open government and publicity, are hoovering up opportunities to develop their cyber presence via social media. Perhaps in defiance of what we recently discussed in this blog on a retreat among UK investor relations professionals, both private sector boardrooms and governments are starting to…

Back in the pre-Kardashian era of 2002, HSBC ran a campaign called ‘the importance of local knowledge’ and it’s as relevant today as it was then. More specifically the importance of local dialect in relation to social media. This week Facebook released…

Facebook has recently launched a dedicated messaging site similar to their Mobile messaging app that allows users to log in with their Facebook credentials and make phone calls, video calls, or text messages. With the launch of this new site, Facebook aims to integrate its new…

It’s no secret that Facebook has its eyes fixed firmly on the prize when it comes to being the internet’s biggest video platform. In April Facebook reported that it is getting 4 billion video views per day. Besides being extremely attractive for advertisers, numbers like that would…

Now, there’s a question! The issue of one of three giants buying Twitter has started gaining some serious traction over the last few weeks. Those giants are, of course, Apple, Facebook and Google. Although there is a viable case for Apple to buy the flagging social network, it seems that…

“Imagine for the first time in history, humanity firing on all cylinders, everyone, everywhere, new voices, new dreams and new inspirations” (Internet.org). With Facebook’s latest technological advancement in aerospace, we are now a step closer to achieving Mark Zuckerberg’s global vision. Specifically, a worldwide web that really…

The social media storm around Cecil the Lion is undeniable – with over 800k mentions of this name online and 444k uses of the hashtag #CecilTheLion. For those that don’t know the story goes something like this: Cecil is a famous lion from Zimbabwe that has been…

The oldest enemy of e-commerce has always been customer drop-off, losing potential customers during various points in your purchase funnel as they slip through the gaps in your carefully crafted user journey. It often left us feeling like Wile E. Coyote trying to catch Roadrunner. In-app commerce could be the…

Facebook is as much an evolving ecosystem of data as ever before. We proactively share what we care about with people we care about at some of the most revealing levels of intimacy. It is no wonder that among such an environment of personal information, marketers can use this data…

The recent Facebook “townhall Q&A” session with CEO Mark Zuckerburg has left the internet buzzing about what the future holds for the world’s biggest social media network. The hour-long session saw Zuckerburg fielding questions from everyday Facebook users and famous personalities such as Stephen Hawking and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Twitter has been getting a lot of column inches recently for all the wrong reasons. For starters, though it launched officially in 2006, the company has yet to turn a profit. In 2014 it reported a pre-tax loss of £372m, despite raking in £908m worth of revenue.

Video killed the erm, everything star. There is no question that video is the future of content marketing and by proxy social media or that by 2017 video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic worldwide. As video dominates marketing strategies left right and centre it can…

Holidays: the Holy Grail of the working world. The one time each year where you can kick back in an exotic locale and collect a paycheque for lying in a hammock and reading a dog-eared copy of “Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. The importance we place on holidays…

In the event of Klout’s new feature to identify expertise, and the fact that I seem to be increasingly talking more and more to clients around this subject, I thought it seemed timely to discuss influencers. Firstly, what is Klout’s new feature? Well, in a nutshell, it shows you what…

From asking followers for hidden-gem holiday destinations to posting the ubiquitous sunset selfie (framed by palm trees for added effect) and bragging about how amazing and life-affirming their holiday was afterward, travellers are a noisy bunch in social media. So much so that a recent study shows that social sharers,…

Facebook announced the lock-down of its Graph API, to demonstrate the efforts it’s making to protect users’ privacy, and the changes will take effect by 30th April. Wondering what on earth a Facebook’s Graph API is? The Graph API is the primary way to get data in and out of Facebook’s social graph, the…

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With Pepsi Max’s new “Genius” campaign officially kicking off this week, the timing of Aman Matharu, Digital Marketing Manager at PepsiCo’s, address at our most recent Social Speakeasy couldn’t have been better. Aman addressed an eager crowd of Social Speakeasy attendees on a balmy spring evening to share the secrets…

Here at immediate future we like to stay in shape. Whether it’s running the London Marathon or maintaining brand health, we are always on the ball. With that in mind, we put together the following Social Media Brand Workout to help you keep your…

“Exciting times for live video streaming” isn’t a term we expected to say this side of 2015 but the rate of new apps being introduced that are able to bridge the functionality gap, (Pan Pan, Nutshell, Hopper, Tworlds) has seen a big increase in the last few months. A gap that certain mainstream social channels…

Your audience on social media can be a fickle, and tricky one to crack. But it’s a quest worth fighting for! Did you know an astonishing 47% of people who follow brands on social are more likely to visit the company’s website? Precisely why it’s important to…

By adjusting your approach to social media during your businesses peak period, you could turn a stressful and potentially fearful time into a victorious experience delivering spadefuls of ROI. We’ve heard it before: “social can be your best friend or your worst enemy”. This is never truer than during your…

A potentially game-changing development from Facebook Ads means that any brand with multiple products to sell can now upload their entire catalogue into the platform, and the automated system will target specific products to those people most likely to buy them across the devices that they use most often. Sound…

Did anyone hear about Madonna’s fall last week? Well, yes I think the whole world did and they heard about it in the precise moment even if they weren’t watching the Brits. #BRITs2015 anyone? The power of social. By the time the newspapers had printed…

How many social networks do you have a personal account on? Now think about how many you actually use on a regular basis – those two numbers will most likely be different, and from a personal perspective that is not necessarily a negative. Now ask yourself the same questions about…

The fact that Facebook can pinpoint your exact position, geographically targeting ads if you are within a pre-defined proximity from a location is creepy right? Creepy it may be, but very useful for advertisers when used correctly. Yet, geo-targeting isn’t the only option when it comes to ensuring your ads…

Did you know that it was ‘National Voter Registration Day’ yesterday? In conjunction with the Electoral Commission, Facebook issued a series of little reminders to kick-start the countdown to the 2015 UK General Election. Some UK voters will have already seen the “Vote Now” or “Share” button…

Convenience has been at the fore-front of user experience in computing for at least the last 30 years and for the web, this emphasis on convenience has resulted in the proliferation of easy-to-use login services. After all, who wants to fill in lengthy forms…

As announced last month the British military have launched the 77th brigade, put in place to directly combat extremist propaganda and the digital…

Whether it’s more likes on Facebook, a higher number of retweets on Twitter or a handful of comments on LinkedIn; social engagement is good to see – a validation that your content is resonating with your audience and is worthwhile. More engagement then equals more eyeballs on your posts, which…

Over the past few days, a number of announcements have come out of Twitter HQ about new features – both for users and marketers. The option to privately message more than one user at once has been a glaring omission from Twitter for years. But with the announcement yesterday that…

According to several news sources, including TechCrunch, Mark Zuckerberg is being touted as the Oprah of the millennial generation, as he follows in her footsteps in creating his very own online book club, “A Year of Books”. Zuckerberg invites members to read alongside him as…

Research and software released this week suggests that computers can predict our personality traits with a higher accuracy rate than our friends, family or spouse. Should we be scared or excited by the prospect of computers using the data we share online to make informed decisions? We’ve…

The world’s most popular mobile messaging service, WhatsApp which launched back in 2009 and has now reached over 700 million active monthly users across the globe. WhatsApp’s co-founder Jan Koum made the announcement on his Facebook page. The company was acquired by Facebook for $19…

It has been a very busy year for Facebook, from the re-launch of Facebook Atlas; which has opened up up new opportunities for re-marketing without cookies and linking online ad engagement to offline purchases; to Facebook’s rooms, a new way to discover and explore interests with like-minded individuals. It’s clear…

You’re scrolling through your newsfeed when a friend shares some unfortunate news, and naturally you want to express your sympathy. Do you click “Like”? It just doesn’t seem appropriate! So how about “Dislike”? It’s a question Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has recently been mulling over. The suggested addition of the…

Last week, Facebook updated its privacy policy alongside the terms and conditions, with the intention of making them more appealing and comprehensible to users. By launching a new Privacy Basics microsite alongside the changes, it is, on the surface at least, handing more control back to the…

Nestle relaunched the Rolo online brand earlier in October with the classic strapline ‘Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?’ via a series of five videos, and the immediate reaction has been largely positive. They’ve racked up over 180,000 views on YouTube in just over two…

Social media is saving lives – a bold statement perhaps, however as smartphone usage continues to grow, it is becoming a whole lot easier to contact loved ones and emergency services should a catastrophe hit. Even when power is lost, mobiles can become the go-to tool in emergency situations. Take…

With a reported 31,000 sign-ups per hour on Thursday 26th and a current growth rate of double that every day, Ello, a brand new social networking site has already made huge waves in the tech world. The question to ask now is – is this is biggest new hype or…

As a new report is published uncovering Police social media behaviour over the last 5 years we discover hundreds of cases of alleged Police misuse or misconduct of ‘social media’. Several cases of officers blurring the boundaries between personal and professional activity often confusing personal authority, professional responsibility…

As you might expect, being in the social media industry, means I often find my work filtering through into my personal life. It doesn’t help being a self admitting social geek but, I must admit, that I often find myself looking at the engagement and activity of my friends Facebook…

Ever wondered where all those ‘new’ competition entries are coming from on your brand page? Is there a way to attract new page fans that aren’t simply ‘gamers’ but real fans of your brand or product and not simply there for the competition. (Yes, there are people…

There are multiple applications on the market under the “save for later” offering, be it Evernote where you can archive media pieces to read at your convenience or Chrome plugins such as Readability where you can bookmark websites and articles to view at a later date. In recent months the…

Grab your glowsticks and other party paraphernalia as Facebook enhances events discovery with new tool, “Events for you”. Recently reported by Techcrunch, Facebook is optimising its events calendar tool. Not all users will have immediate access whilst the feature remains in its testing stages, but we will see…

Facebook has come under scrutiny recently over the ethical implications of a study conducted on its user base back in January 2012. The study manipulated over 689,000 user’s news feeds through fixing the sentiment of the content visible in their newsfeed and assessing the effects through “emotional…

This week Facebook released their employee diversity report, a new ideal brought about by Google to provide more transparency over large tech companies’ employee intake. In theory, this is a nice practice which would reveal the fair and positive mix of race, sex and ethnicity amongst the…

As we come to round off a season of Indian, Columbia and, more closer to home, European elections, it’s clear that more of us are turning to digital channels not only to champion our political opinions but at the very least inspire action. With many warning against…

Want to learn more about your customers? You can with Facebook’s new ‘Audience Insights’ tool! Whilst the feature is currently only available in the US, UK marketers can expect to see a wider expansion in a few short months… And we can’t wait to get our hands on it!…

For businesses using social media, it’s not about the ‘feel-good factor’ of the odd like here or a couple of retweets there. It’s about one thing: ROI. So which social media platform generates the most ROI? New research from Shopify on social commerce has discovered that out of all social…

Over the past year or so a new model of community management has emerged, long gone is the 90-9-1 model. Passive observers are minimising and hyper contributors are increasing, motivated by the sheer desire for social recognition. People have greater accessibility to contribute and are more…

In the wake of the terrible tragedy at Corpus Christi Catholic College yesterday, where 61 year-old beloved teacher Anne Maguire was stabbed by one of her own 15 year-old, pupils, my thoughts turned to the difficulty in policing social media. In a situation like this, where the identity of an…

Twitter has finally launched a new profile layout design for all its users rolling out a long overdue makeover of its previously and somewhat stuffy browser based layout. The new design falls inline with Twitter mobile design updates and instantly shows a big focus on visual enhancement…

Whether it’s writing headlines for blog posts or creating content for Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, the key to creating great content is testing. Test everything – from the topic, to the length of post, to the image and time of day – it requires constant testing and optimisation to find…

The year of the ‘Selfie’ has been marked on several occasions with anything from free-world leaders Barack Obama, David Cameron and Danish leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt snapping away at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, some of the worlds finest air force pilots and astronauts displaying…

For all you ladies out there, it looks like we’re taking over social media, and smartphones are our weapon of choice – in a metaphorical sense of course! According to research conducted by PR agency Porter Novelli, also published by marketingmagazine.co.uk, women are dominating the social media…

For brands using social media, visuals matter. No matter the platform and whether its Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest, incorporating visual elements into your posts is essential. But its more than just using a random photo with your posts to fill the image quota on your posts. Quality, original and…

Whether it’s the press, financial traders or marketers, everyone has had an opinion on the recent acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook. Did any of you see the unfortunate (funny) typo, by the BBC which turned the news story into Facebook acquires “massaging service”? Uh oh! Last week,…

If you’ve logged into Facebook this month, you will most definitely have seen a ‘NekNomination’ video in your Newsfeed. In fact, it’s probably why you are reading this blog post right now… The NekNomination trend, which is essentially Facebook chain mail, has skyrocketed in the past few weeks. A quick search…

I personally think, in this era, you should be able to apply for a job virtually, send your LinkedIn profile, and have a video as a CV. As long as it has the following elements, then why does it need to be a plain old Word doc? Unfortunately I am…

So often in social media we are concerned with what is happening “in platform” that we forget the bigger picture. Over inflated company valuations that we are so familiar with nowadays are down to one thing – data. G+ is the 2nd biggest social network in the world due to…

My view of Facebook advertising has changed in 2014. I used to think of ads as a supplement to boost campaigns. Now, I’d describe advertising as an essential activity for any brand or business using Facebook for marketing. Without the investment, you will struggle to create any cut-through (so if…

What better way to network than virtually, especially when job searching? LinkedIn, you can call out to your connections to let them know you are job searching. You can be introduced to their connections, for maximum networking opportunities. As LinkedIn is a professional networking site, you can also…

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Year is it customary to sit down and reflect on the past year *yawn* and then (once you have woken up from your sleep) think about the year ahead. It is safe to say the social media industry dramatically changed and…

There’s no use denying it. We are well and truly in the social media age. An amazing 89% of all web users are on social media networks, and active internet users tend to spend around 16 minutes of every hour they’re online using social media. Despite the unquestionable prevalence…

It’s that time of year when we dust off the crystal ball and try to predict and prepare for what 2014 holds for some of our favourite social networks. And here’s what Bakti expects to see this coming year! Facebook: I’ve seen A LOT of articles peppered around the net claiming…

Having a firm grasp of Facebook advertising mechanics is a must when it comes to social media marketing. Any creative campaign can be turbocharged by way of Facebook ads, assuming they are managed effectively and optimised in real-time. But Facebook doesn’t always make it easy for marketeers to get started,…

A few days ago, I read an interesting article in Social Media Today, which got me thinking about word-of-mouth marketing via social media. Social has had an enormous impact in transforming the way we talk about and endorse products/services to friends and family. But social should not…

As the end of 2013 draws in, many brands are on a last minute drive to turbocharge their social media activity, capitalising in on the festive season to spark growth. Christmas presents fantastic opportunities for creative campaigns and competitions, sure fire ways to drive new fans and followers. With this…

Which social media site do you find is the best for breaking news? Twitter does tend to dominate this area, as it has that real-time analysis and opinion that other social networks cannot match. However, Facebook has updated its News Feed algorithm to get a piece of the action. Instead…

Sounds like common sense? You’d be surprised! With 66% of companies using Facebook to recruit, should you really be posting profanities on your Facebook page? NO is the answer. As a candidate, either looking for your first step into the professional world, or as an experienced professional, your social media…

It’s that time of year again when we pack two nights of fun and festivity into one week – Halloween and Fireworks Night! These familiar friends are much welcome occurrences in the calendar, lifting our spirits as the temperature quickly cools and the nights draw in early. My Facebook and…

We have had mixed news recently around online advertising, with some sites focusing more heavily on their advertising offering, whilst other businesses are popping up to block ads from customers devices… So you know what’s been happening recently, take a look at the latest developments here: Simplified Facebook Advertising…

Who hasn’t been trying to monitor their online performance and hit a road block because you can’t access the proper tools? Maybe you’re up to your eyeballs in meaningless figures and graphs? All you need is a little context, some simple analysis, a general overview – but you don’t want…

On Wednesday evening, I attended a Social Media Week session, ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. Check out the snap of immediate future‘s Pete looking pretty and enjoying a beverage out of his #SMWLDN cup! As much as I enjoyed the case studies that the panel critiqued and applauded,…

When you have your pictures, links and posts ready, there is one thing that you need to ask yourself. When would be the best time to post? Brands are investing more time and resources into social media, but the timing of your posts are important, making sure that your content…

Direct sourcing of candidates using social media. Forget branding for a moment if you can, this is not about candidate attraction nor is it about creating a pipeline, this is about filling a role you needed to fill last week and how to do it using social media! So, your…

The saying goes: “good artists borrow, great artists steal”, and this seems to be the case with social media platforms and Facebook. Every other day reports come in that the platform has updated its user experience with elements taken from other social media platforms. It seems that the social media…

Fashion labels are among some of the best brands when it comes to utilising the power of social media. The richness and constant stream of visual content makes for a great partnership. Nowadays you would be hard-pressed to find a fashion label that is devoid of any social media presence.

Facebook has announced that they will abandon third-party competition apps to run competitions and instead offer users the chance to run promotions themselves. The update should make page promotions marketer and competition entrant friendly. By having competitions run directly on their Page Timelines companies will be able to collate…

Photography has become huge, with 10% of photos in the history of the world being taken in the last 12 months! But do you know how important photos are to your online presence? by klynnetrabue. Explore more infographics like this one on…

Where would you ask a question or make a complaint about a brand? Via letter, phone call, email or social media? Customer service has rapidly progressed. Where once we would write a letter, walk it to the post office and expect a response within around 2 weeks, we now send…

Ever since Chris Messina introduced the system of hashtagging to mircoblogging site Twitter in 2007 its popularity has grown to the point that it has been adopted by competing social media networks and has found a place in pop culture, with TV shows and music videos…

I have recently started with immediate future as Head of Talent, recruiting the best talent in social media and keeping the great staff we have already happy in their workplace! On that note, if you work in social media marketing – at any level, or want to – we…

Any business, alert and looking to drive natural search is already running Google+ and Facebook accounts at the moment. Facebook because people are using it and Google+ because it is this persistent beast, which is ignoring popularity and instead providing fantastic ingredients for functionality and the ability to…

It feels like a while since I last blogged about social customer care, despite it being one of the areas of social media management and strategy that fascinates me the most. In my time spent working in social media, I’ve observed brands and businesses evolve their clunky social care processes,…

Are you struggling to find time to do everything you want to on social media? It’s not uncommon that in a busy day with meetings, planning and everything else, social media can sometimes slip down the list of things to do… However, luckily, there are ways to help. Why would…

Fresh from unravelling truth within the NHS, examining the issues of South African police and children in the Taliban, the current series of the award-winning Channel 4 documentary Dispatches turned its attention towards social media last night. In the programme, entitled ‘Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans’, the…

David Cameron is set to announce today that internet providers will block pornography for every household in the UK – unless they actively opt-in to receive it. The Prime Minister will state that access to pornography is “corroding childhood” and further steps must be taken to stop…

Despite the negative opinions held by some with regards to the so-called detrimental effects social media is having on humanity (my grandma for one!), I view it as an enabler, which can be harnessed to add further depth and to better human interactions and relationships. With that in mind, I…

With the sunny weather dominating London’s climate for the last couple of weeks, the social media world has somewhat quietened. For many people this is a time of holidays, parks, ice cream, beaches, festivals, BBQs and generally taking a rest from the constant flow of data that surrounds our culture.

Following on from my time spent driving the social media programme for the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit held in Monaco this June, I’ve been pondering the importance and real value of using social media effectively for events. This week, I stumbled across an infographic, titled ‘4…

With the success of the Olympics and Superbowl (a game like rugby except they have to wear padding so they don’t hurt themselves) it is undeniable, that social plays a key role in Live Sporting Events. The content that can be generated around these events helps to paint a true…

Following on from Adam’s blog ‘From Monaco With Love’, and whilst I’m still buzzing from the excitement of managing the social media conversations around the IBM #SmarterCommerce Global Summit last week, I’d like to share some of the key learnings and insights the team garnered…