Clash of the Titans-The Social Network Wars

By Parashar Bhatt

Just a couple of weeks ago, Google launched its 4th attempt to enter the social networking space with Google Plus. Do you Remember Orkut, Wave, and Buzz? Not surprised you don’t because Google failed to grab a successful stake on the social network platform with these first 3 attempts. But this is the first social launch since Larry Page took over as CEO and declared that social was a major battleground.

Google+ is based around the idea of circles. A circle is group of friends. Circles can upload and share content, update each other, even participate in a little group texting. On Google Plus, you can engage in spontaneous video chat by announcing to your circle of friends, acquaintances and followers that you are virtually hanging out. This "hangout" feature gives Google a crucial early advantage over Facebook, where video calling is a one-on-one, PC-to-PC affair.

So just when you think that Google+ has an advantage offering features that Facebook lacks, the world’s largest social network introduces video calling made possible through a partnership with Skype. Not even ten days have lapsed since Google announced its social networking product, and Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg played the master strategy of killing two birds with one stone by announcing the Facebook Skype tie-up. The first one is pretty obvious, which is getting close to Google's worst enemy Microsoft. How you ask? Microsoft bought Skype last month for $8.5 Billion! *insert dramatic music* The second is for Facebook, who is not to be underestimated, to play the role of the kingmaker in the clash of the titans.

Let's face it. Facebook can never really be what Microsoft or Google really is. Social networking has its limitations and a peak beyond which it just cannot go. But in this battle, the Yahoos, Twitters and Facebooks of the world play a very crucial role, that of deciding who wins and who loses or who gets on top and who remains the underdog.

Google versus Microsoft is a saga that can be compared to none in the history of enterprise. While in the earlier times corporate battles were fought over years or even decades, this is probably the first time a startup, Google, challenged the then mightiest company on earth, Microsoft and in less than 5 years of its launch Google became enemy no. 1 for Microsoft. Not many companies have enjoyed the success Google got so easily. It wasn't competing just on products, Google shook the very foundation on which the software enterprise model was based on. It changed the rules of the game. Facebook did the same for social networking, something Google and Microsoft tried many times but couldn't succeed.

Facebook holds power for its mass appeal and is the real thorn for Google. No one even came close to Google in terms of advertising. Google has literally become an advertising mogul. Google's growth is fueled by advertising. Its war ammunition is supplied by the advertisers to fight Microsoft. Problem now is that Facebook is a far superior platform for advertising. Reason for this is the profiling of users. Based on Geography, Interests, Demographics and the minutest detail no one comes even close to Facebook. They have the masses and the absolutely stunning profiling of its users.

In simple words, Facebook has the masses and the stickiness to attract the advertisers. What can hurt Google the most is the advertisers leaving Google for Facebook. The Facebook and Skype association is probably the best missile Microsoft has so far. It's time Google did some overhauling and rewired its thinking, which did work at one time, if its wants to survive. For now Facebook and Microsoft have the lead and a huge one at that. Touché, Zuckerberg, touché.

What do you think of the Google Plus? Who will come out on top? Share your thoughts.

The Sunday Times Launches the Social List The List Will Unveil the World's Most Influential Social Networkers

This week, The Sunday Times launched The Sunday Times Social List at http://www.the-social-list.com, an ever evolving list of who's who in the world of social networking.
The information will be drawn from the biggest social networks - Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Foursquare, - The Sunday Times Social List system adds up your social networking activity and measures how much interest it generates amongst your friends and colleagues in order to work out how well you score.
It’s free to join, participants need to simply link up with the social networks they use and want to be included. Every morning The Sunday Times Social List will make its calculations.
People's results will change daily as new people join and scores are updated.
On the results page you can see a list of the top 2000 most socially wealthy people at any given time. You can also see how you compare with friends and colleagues who have also signed up.
To help people see where they are in the grand scheme of things, they are allocated a rank when they join and a badge that goes with it.
May the best tweeter win!

More than 30 Social Media Stats on Video - Transformed All our Lives

From Erik Qualman's Blog

I AM AN EARLY LINKEDIN ADOPTER

I earned my bragging rights today for being an early adopter to LinkedIn. After announcing earlier this week that it passed the 100 million user mark, professional networking site LinkedIn sent emails to its early users on Saturday, March 26, 2011 thanking them and telling them exactly when they joined.

I received my e-mail from LinkedIn Co-Founder and Chairman, Reid Hoffman on Saturday and although I was one of 1 million recipients I realized once again how dead on I was in predicting the social media phenomena. I happened to be member number 530915 in fact!* The email, signed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman himself says “In any technology adoption lifecycle, there are the innovators, those who help lead the way. That was you.” This email also served as a reminder of how quickly social media spreads – in just a few years you can go from 1,000,000 followers to more than 100,000,000.

Four Ways To Get Your Legal Department On Your Side When Implementing Social Media Strategies

1. It always helps to approach your legal department with a written document that outlines a social media plan that will already have accounted for any concerns they might have as to the risk of being active in the social media space.
2. Even slow industries are getting their feet wet in the social media space. Subtle remind your legal department that being slow to adopt gives your competitors the edge – but DO NOT forget that once you turn on the social media facet you can’t just turn off the tap!
3. Work with your legal department to come up with a plan for dealing with the risks that might come to pass. Don’t just avoid social media – having a plan always works.
4. Help your legal team understand that using social media can help protect your company in many ways, from the risk of your brand eroding in the public’s eyes as well as being misunderstood.

Old Spice Social Campaign Case Study

Old Spice Social Case Study from Digital Buzz on Vimeo.

How did they ever make a Facebook movie?

Here are the links to the four parts of the behind the scenes documentary:

• Part One – Commencement
• Part Two – Boston
• Part Three – Los Angeles
• Part Four – The Lot