It’s always a little awkward to declare any year the year of something, but I’m going to do it anyway. This may very well be the year of the bot. As social has moved from public social networks like Facebook to more private messaging platforms like Snapchat, Kik and Messenger, chat has established a firm foothold in the online behaviors of consumers, and one of the core ways marketers can play in this space is through bots.
Read MoreStay where you are. We have everything you could ever want right here. That’s the promise social networks are working to fulfill now more than ever. They were once gateways to the rest of the Internet, but social networks like Facebook and Snapchat are doubling down on creating Internet islands or all-inclusive resorts where users can go and find everything they need. Marketers should be paying attention.
Read MoreThe age of Facebook, Twitter and the mass social networks is here. Marketers have embraced the platforms for their potential to reach large numbers of consumers, deliver customer service and create highly targeted ads through the context of personal relationships. Now, a new type of social networking is on the horizon, and marketers are going to have to contend with the fact that the rules for social media marketing are changing… again.
Read MoreWe Are Social released some findings from a report on social media use around Asia. One of the report’s biggest findings is around the growing adoption of mobile chat or group messaging applications.
Group messaging apps allow users to send messages back-and-forth between groups of friends or coworkers or people with a shared interest. For example, I can set up a private group chat between my former college roommates to stay in touch instead of connecting with them on a network like Facebook. It’s a private, niche community of only my friends communicating as needed using text, photos, videos and even digital art called stickers.
Instead of Facebook dominating the Asian market, apps including KakaoTalk and Line have more users than both Facebook and microblogs. There’s also WeChat, which has 15% more users in Asia than Facebook.
This is important. Asia often offers a glimpse into what we can expect to see in the United States. Many countries in Asia typically see faster adoption rates among consumers when it comes to digital technology and social networking behavior than we see in the United States. With that in mind, these findings matter, whether you’re a global, national or local business.
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