iPad on the news!

The topic most talked on the weekend has been the release of the Apple iPad. My twitter is full of messages about it!
 
According to TechCrunch, sentiment is split on the ipad: people either love it, or hate others for not shutting up about it. But everyone is still searching for information about the iPad online (see the trending search term on Google).

*Google trend data (April, 4th 2010): Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of ipad in the last 30 days.

I still don’t know what iPad has to offer and its business strategy, but to tell you the truth, I would love to have one. I always like to try new technologies and every Apple new “gadget” is a temptation to me.
 
Yet when I stop and think, I question myself about the real necessity of having an iPad: Laptop, smartphone...why would I want to carry another device??
 
So, I will wait and see what others have to say about it. I’m sure it will be easy as per the volume of posts, tweets and discussions about it on the web his weekend. 
 
Given the history of success of Apple, I’m certain that they will find a way to show the value of the iPad to the world. I definitely see no explicit need for an iPad right now, but I don’t question Apple’s power to create a new need, that I was not aware that I had until now…
 
For further info on the iPad, check the links below:

Waiting in Line for the iPad [VIDEO]
HOW TO: Get Started with the iPad
Live Blogging the iPad’s Big Day
New iPad launch-day estimate: 600,000-700,000 sold
Hands-on with the Apple iPad: Groundbreaking Or Not, It’s Still Amazing
Laptop Killer? Pretty Close

 

Some thoughts about Twitter

Despite the belief that brands use Twitter only as a channel to support customer service and PR activities, some brands are actually making money using Twitter.
 
After Dell reveling last year that they have generated a total of $6.5 million in revenue from their Twitter presence, now Sony announced that they made over £1m in sales through Twitter. 
 
It’s good to observe this examples and what’s the strategy that companies are adopting for Twitter. Unfortunately, many companies don’t actually have a strategy. They have a Twitter or Facebook account because someone thought it was nice to have a presence on social media sites or they just felt the pressure to get involved and hoped something would come from it.
 
But this lack of strategy can be very dangerous as the channel is open and the impact can be extremely negative if the company doesn’t have a structure to respond to customers that contact them through Twitter, for example. We have seen recently cases of customer complaints that became public because of social media, damaging companies’ reputations and costing them a lot of money. 
 
I believe that if the company is not willing to have a team dedicated to social media and take it seriously, it’s better to be out of it.

New data on Social Media

This week I was reading a research conducted by PewInternet, about Social Media and Young Adults and I found some interesting stats that I would like to share.

According to the study, young people are losing interest in long-form blogging, as their communication habits have become increasingly brief, and mobile.

Since 2006 the use of blogs is decreasing among teens and young adults. On that year, the percentage of adolescents who maintained a blog was 28% and in 2009 it was only 14%. Additionally, blog commenting has also dropped among teens: 52% of teens’ network users said that they comment in their friends’ blogs, down from the 76% who did so in 2006. 

On the other hand, adults aged 30 years or more have shown growing interest in blogs. In 2007, 7% said that they maintained a blog and that number rose to 11% in 2009.

Moreover, both teen and adult use of social networking sites has risen significantly.73% of American adolescents reported to use multiple social networks websites – increasing from 55% in 2006 and 65% in 2008. Among adults, 47% use social networking sites, up from 37% in November 2008.

The study shows, however, that there is a difference in site preference and usage among different age groups. Young people are more likely to maintain a profile on MySpace (66% of young profile owners do so, compared with just 36% of those 30 and older) but less likely to have a profile on the LinkedIn (7% vs. 19%). In contrast, adult profile owners under 30 and those 30 and older are equally likely to maintain a profile on Facebook (71% of young profile owners do so, compared with 75% of older profile owners).

Another interesting finding is the low usage of Twitter among teens. Only 8% of social network users with ages between 12 and 17 utilize the microblog.  Among adults, the age group that most uses Twitter is between 18 and 24 years (37%), followed by those who are between 25 and 29 years (25%).