Twitter Immediate Future

Twitter

Mission from ‘M’, just in. You must infiltrate popular social media networks with highly dynamic content, and engage your targets where possible, as the Spectre network makes a worldwide offensive. You’ll have ‘paid’ support from Q branch in the form of cutting edge channel technology and the…

Apps have revolutionised speed-reading through displaying single words in rapid succession. These apps are based on a method known as Rapid Serial Visual Presentation, or RSVP. It’s nothing new and has been documented in cognitive psychology since the early 1970s, but with the rise of mobile and apps, its popularity has…

Facebook announced its latest move to try out manoeuvre Twitter in the battle for real-time conversation. The range of second screen tools launched to engage TV viewers as they tune into live shows. Hashtag voting, polling for live events, photo and video submissions as well as custom icons (Facebook’s answer…

Which campaign worked best – and which was most cost-effective? An issue which must be deliberated when running ad campaigns to prove ROI. In an effort to provide answers to this key question and to entice marketers to spend more of their marketing budget on Twitter, the platform announced the…

Are you a fan of Hunted, the Channel 4 fugitive chasing reality tv show? It’s been great, hasn’t it? The mind games, the use of technology, and that thrill of the chase. What’s also been great has been their use of Twitter. The social media platform famed for hosting TV-related…

Social media levels the playing fields to building a brand in the modern age. The ability to be able to connect with the world at the click of a button means that with the right message/product/offering anyone can build a brand. As an individual, talented musician using YouTube to get…

The sixth annual Social Good Summit took place last month at 92nd Street Y, a world-class cultural centre in New York. The star-studded summit coincided with the UN General Assembly and the Sustainable Development Summit, in which world leaders adopted 17 new Global Goals.

Whether you are a budding blogger, a professional journalist, or just trying to ramp up your brand’s content portfolio, Facebook’s latest content offering could prove a useful app with which to familiarise yourself. For years, tabloid newspapers and radio stations have been citing celebrity comments prised from verified Twitter handles.

In recent weeks there have been a few big stories surrounding Emoji that represent the turning of the tide as more and more social platforms adopt them as the future. Firstly Twitter have sold the first of their new offering “Admoji” or custom Emoji, to Coca-Cola to promote their…

All too often driving attendance to events in the B2B world is an afterthought. Companies spend hundreds-of-thousands of ££’s on set-up, stands, design, product and offline marketing and organisation. Then, in the weeks running up to the event, they realise they have not placed enough focus on making their customers…

From Iceland to India, Twitter ads are open for business, and the global reach of its network of 100,000 active advertisers is about to get a whole lot larger! Although late in the game compared to other social networking giants, the event marks a substantial step forward…

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…

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…

The micro-blogging site Twitter recently dropped its 140-character limit from direct messages, in what less-is-more puritan fans saw as infidelity to its one-liner ethos. Already struggling as a loss-making social media platform, with fears for its sustainability, Twitter has braved the raised eyebrows and thinks it is onto a crucial…

Do you wake up in the morning and look forward to tweets from brands? Me neither. If someone decides to follow your company, it’s a massive deal. They’re allowing you to enter a news feed most likely to be populated by family, friends and colleagues. The opportunity to deliver the…

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…

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…

As busy professionals, I am sure that you often feel stretched for time to complete your ever-growing to-do list. As your inbox relentlessly piles up, have you ever uttered the words ‘there simply aren’t enough hours in the day’? Or if you are super busy, perhaps there aren’t enough minutes…

Recently there has been a lot of talk about Twitter’s supposedly secret upcoming feature, Project Lightning, and it’s easy to see why. What we do know is that it will curate and display events-based content in rich feeds which will be visible whether the user is logged into Twitter or…

Anyone who uses Twitter will know there are several keystrokes that can spice up the reading experience, and most importantly, add value. Handles (@) identify individuals or their companies on the micro-blogging site, and hashtags (#) provide a topical marker or context, allowing readers to discover more content on a…

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…

With all kinds of summer events on the agenda and the corporate convention season already rumbling away, marketers are increasingly looking for reliable ways to bide the attention of attendees, eager to solidify connection with their target prospects and make sure they stay on their radar to develop a promising brand relationship.

There might have been a disjoint between Twitter and real life in terms of public opinion around the recent General Election (see last week’s blog), but Twitter offered a fascinating journal of what the politicians were thinking in the final days of the month-long campaign. It was supposed…

On Sunday 26 April, alongside around 38,000 other intrepid runners, I ran the 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon (I promise this will be the last time I mention it). To make it harder for myself, I decided to live tweet my way around the course. Along…

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,…

[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…

Last week, I saw an infographic on the charity and non-profit sectors that perform best – and worst – on social media. And whilst running (and live tweeting!) the London Marathon this year, it occurred to me that charities could be making more of the huge opportunities that are available…

Recently, I have been working with clients across a wide range of verticals in the B2B space, from pharmaceuticals to chemical engineering to sports equipment. These disparate markets have completely unique business challenges, requirements, sales processes and routes to market. However, there is one thing that many of these companies…

Knowing your influencers is a key goal for most companies. However, there is no straight forward formula, or right or wrong way to identify these evangelists. Repeated engagements and metrics such as Klout will help in assessing how engaged and how influential they are in their own merit, but without…

On Friday night, Twitter announced it is ditching third-party agreements for reselling firehose data. To date, businesses have used Twitter firehose APIs to stream real-time tweets and all related metadata. Friday’s announcement won’t have come as a shock to some, having seen how swiftly Twitter moved to help its streaming…

On 26 April, I’ll be running the Virgin Money London Marathon for the very first time. My IF colleagues all think I’m completely bonkers, and after 5 months of (barely) training, I’m starting to agree with them. Why is this blogworthy, you may ask. Well, despite it…

Past UK elections were won by a mix of political manifesto pledges and party leader personalities. But the common platform used to communicate those since the 1950s was television or tabloid newspapers. The Sun newspaper bullishly proclaimed after the 1992 election that “It’s The Sun wot won it”. What the…

Being in the business of social media, we like to believe that it helps bring people together, incites communication and debate amongst large groups of people, and simplifies access to that communication. These remain true, and can be backed up with a plethora of hair-raising facts and figures like…

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…

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…

Fireworks illuminated the skies across Asia as millions celebrated the Year of the Sheep on Thursday. Wednesday night, Lunar New Year’s eve, was marked by loud booms as people set off firecrackers across china and families came together to enjoy the festivities. In China over 600 million people use online…

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…

Twitter is planning to expand its advertising offering by selling media within third-party apps and sites. This will allow the platform to be utilised to market to people that don’t currently use it but may see a tweet online in embedded streams or publisher apps. Examples of publishers which could…

With the news over the last few weeks that Instagram now has more active users and at $350m is worth more than Twitter, audiences clearly have a huge appetite for rich content. Short-form video is something that brands are already doing really well, but…

After the madness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we are all gearing up towards one thing: Christmas. As more people go online to buy and research products, Twitter have got involved with a social commerce launch of their own. That’s right – after giving merchants the ability to sell…

This week, Twitter came out in force to remember the tragic death of Australian cricketer Phil Hughes, with a range of poignant hashtags. The first of the Phil Hughes hashtags was #63notout – a reference to the score he was on when he was hit on the neck…

John Lewis ads over the past few years have always been a hotly anticipated affair, and for many marks the countdown to Christmas. The department store is renowned for creating highly evocative commercials which tell moving stories around the magic of Christmas and going the extra mile for our loved…

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…

Internet trolls will (from March 2014) face up to two years in jail under new laws proposed by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling. The previous maximum term of 6 months will be quadrupled under the plan to tackle the “cowards” who post abusive comments online. Mr Grayling said the plan…

Content is king, we all know that. But when it comes to social media, particularly when you have so few characters to get your message across, the words you use become incredibly important. We all want to seem intelligent, witty and eloquent when we post on social, but in the…

If you’re like me you probably have an attention span that can only be measured in nano-seconds. To grab your attention online, especially on social media, things need to explode and cartwheel about just to stop you scrolling for 5 seconds. That being the case I…

You will soon be able to purchase items from Twitter, as the micro-blogging service announced this week that they are featuring a ‘Buy’ button on tweets. This is a big step for Twitter as they enter the realm of e-commerce, and the new button will sit inside a tweet and…

Unless you live under a rock, you will by now have read about the scandal over the unfortunate (some may argue not so unfortunate!) release of those explicit celebrity pictures leaked all over the internet – ostensibly taken by infiltrating the iCloud accounts of the rich and famous. And the…

Last week Twitter announced objective based ads. A new way for those using promoted tweets service or Twitter ads’ to set up new campaigns. The new feature allows marketers to create tweets based on their key function and only pay when that function occurs. So if you were trying to…

Twitter has recently unwittingly dropped hints they may be shifting closer to becoming an Ecommerce channel with the discovery of a ‘payments and shipping’ option in the settings window of their android app. The discovery followed a tweet by a developer in South Africa, the window clearly showing a currently…

Timehop The app service that sends you a reminder of your updates of this time last year, 2 years ago, 3 years and so on, is by no means a new app. However their more recent functionality changes have increased downloads and driven engagements, now enabling users…

The most tweeted about sporting event in history. The day Germany smashed world cup hosts Brazil in a 7-1 victory. Twitter set out to win big during Brazil 2014 and they continue to excel their own benchmarks in smashing records and taking their event coverage to the…

The days of going to a shopping centre with a group of friends on a Saturday afternoon could be something of a myth soon. The ecommerce boom has meant that more and more of us are taking to our laptops, mobiles or tablets and it doesn’t look like its slowing…

Spreading campaign messages via Twitter with the use of hashtags or recruiting dedicated supporters has always been a labour of gaining organic strength. Relying on the persistence and influence of others to spread the message. Now we see the emergence of new apps that access supporters’ social…

Twitter’s strengths lie in fast conversation around events as they happen with an inherent wealth of live breaking news. As one of the biggest international sports tournaments kicks off today (pun very much intended) the platform is ready with several new features to up its user sign…

This week Twitter launched a new feature allowing you to mute those pesky users who Tweet too much or sporadically at a time that is just not working for you. Useful right? Probably not so much for brands… Disclaimer: I followed @JustinBieber to illustrate the muting of someone who…

It’s exactly a month yesterday (14 May 2014) that over 200 Nigerian school girls were abducted from their boarding school by local Islamic militia group Boko Haram. The media and western world initially skirted over the story as just another political tragedy in Nigeria’s…

As pressure increases on Twitter to monetize their platform through developing an already powerful targeted tweets and promoted post service. The platform, having recently undergone a major design re-haul, has now stepped up a further development to attract retailers to promote their products and retail campaigns directly…

You may or may not have read countless articles, suspiciously pointing the finger at Twitter’s re-design and how it closely matches the appearance of another popular social network. Or you’ve logged into your account and have been taken aback by an enormous cover photo. Yes Twitter has had an image…

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…

Twitter has already carved out its name as one the top social media sites to market and advertise from but in an effort to become more ‘social’ it recently revealed two new features that allow users to upload up to 4 photos in a single tweet and…

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…

Rumours are circulating the net of Twitter’s planned revamp and eventual elimination of the platform’s most prominent symbols, the #tag and @reply. With conjecture that testing is well underway, we take a look at what the change could spell for brands. Testing and updates to the functionality…

So, I am sure over the past few days you have seen the Argos “badman” tweets doing the rounds as examples of great social customer service. For those of you who haven’t seen the posts, here is the story… @Argos_Online YO wen u gettin da…

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…

Fashion House Temperley London is helping raise funds for the Somerset flood victims. The fashion house has created a dedicated web page to educate people around the terrible flooding in Somerset and the West Country, helping raise awareness of the crisis which is close to…

You have built your empire with blood, sweat and tears. You have a small, dedicated team who stand by you. They love working for you, they love the culture, the hours, pay, flexibility offered and the general working environment. So who wouldn’t want to work for you? Well it seems…

Social media has been bringing humour into a somewhat dismal situation as commuters take to social media, specifically Twitter, in the wake of the London tube strikes. Surprisingly the sentiment has not been quite as negative as expected. I’m sure many of you have seen signs of chaos, with endless…

OK, I’m no psychologist, so I would have to hazard a guess on the applications of Freud’s psychodynamic theory to social media – I’ll leave that to the psychologists amongst us! What I can tell you though, is that thought processes and emotions play an important role in social media…

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…

If, like most, you are struggling to find new music and can’t bring yourself to thumb through endless blogs, magazines, buy redundant CDs, download or ‘torrent’ illegally or can’t even fathom what those big black discs Dad used to play are called, then you may want to try out some…

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…

If you’re thinking of entering your 2014 with, at the most, a vague idea of getting fit ranging from ‘moving around more’ to ‘smashing a whole triathlon’ and haven’t the slightest inclination on how to go about organising yourself, why not turn to the multitude of apps…

Happy #xmasjumper day everyone. In the IF offices this week we have already seen some fairly horrific Christmas jumpers and no doubt it’s similar in offices all over the land… According to Topsy, recently acquired by Apple, there have…

…who is the fairest of them all? That’s the answer that celebrities are trying to discover in the new craze that is sweeping through Hollywood. Celebs love a ‘selfie’. And a ‘belfie’ [whatever that is]. But what they love more is themselves. That’s why the new ‘Twitter…

As we approach the end of 2013, there have been endless articles on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc… listing the greatest social media meltdowns of 2013. Although they provide some valuable lessons on techniques to avoid in your social strategy, they also scaremonger a little. And the downside…

This week it was announced that Apple has purchased social data analytics firm Topsy. A bit of a strange move on the surface, but when you consider that Topsy Labs is one of few companies that have real-time access to the Twitter “firehose”, it may not be so strange. The…

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…

Is Vine suitable for B2B brands? This is a good question, which I hear being raised over and over again. “Shouldn’t only food brands and celebrities use Vine?” – some may ask. A little investigation I did this morning reveals that, B2B brands can be equally creative Vine makers, and…

Facebook has them, LinkedIn has them, but when it comes to advertising on the platform, Twitter was lagging behind. Until now. That has all changed this week with the introduction of Twitter’s self-serve advertising platform for the UK, Ireland and Canada. Previously companies outside the US had to contact Twitter…

Not to be outdone by updates from competitive platforms, Twitter announced its new custom timeline capabilities within TweetDeck. Now users can collect, organise and categorise related or relevant tweets into one new, seamless feed. In truth, it’s very much like Storify, which makes…

Twitter is a truly fascinating social platform. Launched merely 7 years ago the company is now valued at $24bn. Some argue this is an over-valuation (Twitter is yet to make a profit), however the numbers speak for themselves: 230+ million monthly active users 500…

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…

Since the interview aired on BBC Newsnight less than a week ago, social media commentary about the Brand v Paxman debate has exploded. On the official BBC Newsnight YouTube upload of the interview, there has already been 7,562,772 views: that’s a whopping 1,260,462 views per…

Monday morning. On my way to work. Arrived at the train station. Discovered the following: Yes, a storm has arrived in the UK and turned the daily routine for millions of people upside down. As I am writing, updates keep coming and the situation keeps developing. Social media (and open…

Last Thursday British Gas tweeted this: Our Customer Services Director Bert Pijls will be taking part in a Q&A about our price rise at 1-2pm. Tweet your questions using #AskBG! — British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013 The company already has a…

Twitter keeps constantly evolving, and this week has been no exception. Perhaps fueled by the upcoming initial public offering on 15th November, the platform has introduced a couple of important, albeit subtle, tweaks to its functionality. 1. Scheduled tweets Finally, we can schedule our tweets. Well, almost all…

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…

What is Netflix? Netflix is the world’s leading internet TV Network with more than 37 million members in 40 countries watching more than one billion hours of TV programmes and films per month. Since Netflix launched in the UK it has received a mixed response. It has challenged the…

Hot on the heels of our inclusion in the Top 10 UK social media blogs by Cision UK, @iftweeter puts our team into the spotlight, starting with consultant @PeteKnott1. Find out what he thinks of social in a series of quick…