News

Instagram overtakes Twitter -- As Twitter struggles to build its user base, the microblogging service finds itself slipping in the rankings of social networks. Instagram has added 100 million users since March, propelling the Facebook-owned visual-focused network past 300 million monthly active users, surpassing Twitter's official tally of 284 million. Concurrent with the announcement of its user totals, Instagram also announced the introduction of verified accounts. Read more

Now you can search for old Facebook updates -- Google probably isn't quaking in its boots, but there is a new search service in town. Facebook has made it easier for users to look for old posts without ceaseless scrolling through News Feeds or Timelines. With users able to take a more active role in content discovery, brands will likely need to optimize their Facebook content for search as well as shareability. That may mean more work, but it also means longer life for content brands publish on Facebook. Read more

Senate staffer attempts to remove "torture" from article on CIA torture report -- Wikipedia doesn't take kindly to conflict-of-interest editing of its articles. The collaborative encyclopedia has found instances of political staffers trying to change articles to benefit their bosses in the past (such as an attempt to remove references to a candidate's previous marriage to make him more appealing to voters). This time around, someone logging in to Wikipedia from a U.S. Senate IP address has tried to delete a phrase that includes the word "torture" from an article about the recently-released CIA torture report. The attempt was made twice, with the anonymous editor asserting the motive was "removing bias." Both attempts vailed. The revelation was made by a Twitter-bot, @congress-edits, that automatically reports Wikipedia edits coming from Congressional IP addresses. Read more

New Microsoft service takes on PollEverywhere -- PollEverywhere is a nifty service that lets you inject real-time polling into presentations. Its one drawback: It's pricey. Microsoft may have an alternative for you with the rollout of Bing Pulse, which also lets you solicit reactions from groups at events and meetings in real time. The service is free while it's in beta; after January 31, it may move to a freemium model. Read more

Trends

News outlets embrace aggregation apps -- Unable to convince readers to use standalone apps for their individual outlets, news publications have started to embrace aggregation apps like Flipboard as a means of distributing content. Media companies are signing deals with Flipboard and its competitors to host their content in exchange for a slice of the ad revenues the apps generate. It's a recognition that "the user does not want to go to one single source for all their information needs," according to the content VP of SmartNews. Not many brands, though, have started using these apps for their own content; early adopters still have an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.Read more

GM makes real-time adjustments at the factory based on social feedback -- While most brands are monitoring what customers say about them in the social space, how they take action on that input tends to be a long-term, planning-focused activity. Not at GM, where social feedback can be used to make changes on the factory floor in real time. For example, a problem with the backseat ventilation system in one model, identified by customers and gleaned from GM's social media dashboard, led to repairs that were made to cars that appeared in showrooms within a few short weeks. Other companies weaving social feedback into real-time adjustments at the front line include Dick's Sporting Goods and the Five Guys burger chain. Read more

Customer loyalty programs get mobile makeovers -- The shift to mobile is shaking up traditional loyalty programs, with customers abandoning traditional one-size-fits-all programs in favor of mobile-focused offerings that accommodate their specific needs. An example, AdAge says, is the partnership between American Express and Uber, under which paying for an Uber ride with your AmEx card earns you two times the normal Membership Rewards points, which can then be used to pay for future rides. WalMart and Walgreens have apps that make personalized offers to customers while they're in the store, and Satrbucks' mobile payment app saves money and delivers offers. Read more

New service lets brands transform reviews into native ads -- While native advertising continues to explode, nobody is denying that independent third-party endorsements are still gold. A new player called InPowered wants brands to get the best of both by finding positive reviews of company products or services, converting them in to ads, and running them on ad sites across the web. "InPowered is looking to marry the 'authentic' nature of native advertising with the scale available in the display ad marketplace," according to a Wall Street Journal report. It's also the latest example of the increasingly blurry lines between earned and paid content. Read more

Research

Most of your social media audience are lurkers -- Among your company's customers who use social media, only 8% of users are responsible for more than half of all posts. The biggest share of your audience is made up of lurkers, those who consume content but rarely contribute. According to a study from Vision Critical, this group contributes posts once a week or less and accounts for just 5% of all social media updates. "The result is a major disconnect between what a company hears on social media and what its customers actually think," according to a Globe and Mail report. Read more

Americans feel better informed thanks to the Internet -- Remember all those worries about the Internet leading to information overload? It hasn't happened. In fact, most Americans believe the Net (along with cell phones) has helped them "learn new things, stay better informed on topics that matter to them, and increase their capacity to share ideas and creations with others." A Pew Research Center study found only 26% of respondents feel overloaded while 72% like having so much information. Read more

Content viewing habits vary by demographic -- Consumer content viewing habits are changing as delivery mechanisms, from gaming consoles to tablets and smartphones, offer a fragmented content environment. According to a Nielsen report, content consumption habits vary based on a number of demographic factors, such as when an ethnic group adopts a platform or device. For example, the amount of time Asian Americans spend watching video online has grown 17% in the last year, along with the use of tablets. The report breaks out content consumption among blacks, Hispanics, and Asian Americans, and notes that overeall, average daily time spent watching live TV dropped 12 minutes from a year ago. Read more

This week on FIR

• On episode 785 of The Hobson & Holtz Report, Neville and I look at the seven attributes of CEOs who "get" social media, the rise of mobile messaging apps (and PR's readiness to use them), Augie Ray's assertion that there's nothing new under the sun in social media marketing, and how and why to build a culture of content. We also talk about an agency settlement with the FTC over employee tweets, a pro-breastfeeding protest and its impact, a study that reveals who's watching all those online videos, and Netflix's test of a tweet reminder service. We also have our weekly tech report from Dan York. Listen
• On episode 52 of Thought Leadership, Mitchell Levy talks with Brian Fanzo, partner and Chief Digital Strategist at Broadsuite. Listen
• Journalism's adoption of the algorithm as a factor in determining what gets coverage is the topic of discussion on Inside PR #392. Listen
• In addition to his roundup of B2B news, Paul Gillin talks with Rick Short, director of marketing communications at Indium, a prime example of a B2B organization succeeding with its content marketing strategy. Listen
• Jen Phillips joins Chip Griffin for the latest Media Bullseye Roundtabke, talking about Uber, Forrester research that contends Facebook and twitter are a waste of brand money, and whether comments are dead on blogs and news sites. Listen

• I'll be in Washington, D.C. on January 21 for a talk with internal communications staff at my client, the International Monetary Fund.
• In February, I'll join Ann Wylie in Santa Fe, NM, for a two-day writing workshop.
• In March, I'll speak at Ragan's Digital Employee Communications Conference in Las Vegas, NV.
• I'll speak at a Ragan conference devoted to the issue of visuals and infographics in April 2015 in Portland, Oregon.

Spend two days in Santa Fe with Ann Wylie and me

Visit us at Holtz.com.