Future of Social Web

8/6/2019 Future of Social Web

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/future-of-social-web 1/18

Making Leaders Successul Every Day

Api 27, 2009

The Fte O The Soia We Jeemiah Owag

o Iteatie Maketig Poessioas

http://www.forrester.com/



© 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Inormation is based on best availableresources. Opinions refect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, Technographics®, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar,and Total Economic Impact are trademarks o Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property o their respective companies. To purchase reprints o this document, please email [email protected]. For additional inormation, go to www.orrester.com.

Fo Iteatie Maketig Poessioas

Includes data rom Consumer Technographics®

ExEcuTIvE SuMMAry

oday’s social experience is disjointed because consumers have separate identities in each social network

they visit. A simple set o technologies that enable a portable identity will soon empower consumers to

bring their identities with them — transorming marketing, eCommerce, CRM, and advertising. IDs are

just the beginning o this transormation, in which the Web will evolve step by step rom separate social

sites into a shared social experience. Consumers will rely on their peers as they make online decisions,

whether or not brands choose to participate. Socially connected consumers will strengthen communitiesand shi power away rom brands and CRM systems; eventually this will result in empowered

communities dening the next generation o products.

TAblE OF cOnT EnTSSocial Ntwors Prolirat, Yt Commnitis

Ar Locd In Disparat Islands

I The Ea O Soia Ftioait, The Fos

remais O Atiit Within Soia netwoks

I The Ea O Soia cooizatio, commities

Wi Taese The Iteet

I The Ea O Soia cotet, The Iteet

Deies Pesoaized Epeiees

I The Ea O Soia commee, Soia

netwoks Wi Gai Powe Oe bads

Isss Li Priacy Man T Pat To Tis

Ftr Will B Bmpy

rEcOMMEnDATIOnS

Focs On Adocats And Prpar For

Commnitis

WHAT IT MEAnS

As Powr Sits To Commnitis, Marting

Will Transorm Itsl

Spplmntal Matrial

nOTES & rESOurcESFoeste iteiewed 24 edos ad se

ompaies, idig Faeook, Googe,

likedI, MSpae, OpeID Fodatio, ad

Twitte.

Rlatd Rsarc Docmnts

“uiqitos Maketig”J 17, 2008

“ The crM 2.0 Impeatie”

Mah 10, 2008

“ The coeted Age”

Fea 8, 2008

Api 27, 2009

The Fte O The Soia WePotae IDs cataze A Powe Shit To cosmes

by Jrmia Owyangwith Josh beo, cthia n. Pam, ad Emi bowe

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12

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mailto:[email protected]


http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=42090&src=46970pdf











© 2009, Foeste reseah, I. repodtio PohiitedApi 27, 2009

The Fte O The Soia We


2

SOCIAL NeTWORkS PROLIFeRATe, YeT COMMuNITIeS ARe LOCkeD IN DISPARATe

ISLANDS

Social networks represent the digital reection o what humans do: We connect and share.

While brands naturally want to get in on this uror o activity, there’s a big problem — the social

inormation about people, their proles, and their riends is locked up in separate networks,

rustrating both the consumers who use them and the brands who want to connect with them. But

the Social Web is about to evolve into something much broader than a ew social network sites: a

consistent backdrop or every online activity. Portable social IDs and the changes they enable will

transorm how consumers, brands, and social networks interact. Tis online social experience will

evolve through ve eras (see Figure 1 and see Figure 2):

1. Te era o social relationships. Tis was the rst stage o the Social Web, starting in the mid-

1990s with communities like AOL and maturing a ew years ago. In this era, people connected

to each other using simple proles and riending eatures to share inormation, discussions,and media.1 While this era is the oundation o the changes to come, in this document we’ll be

concentrating on the next our eras — the uture o the Social Web.

2. Te era o social unctionality. oday’s social networks have evolved beyond “riending” into

platorms that support social interactive applications and provide new meaning and utility to

communities. Even so, social relationships are still locked up within sites.

3. Te era o social colonization. In the next stage o social evolution, starting later in 2009,

technologies like OpenID and Facebook Connect will let individuals traverse the Internet with

their social connections along or the ride. Te boundaries o social networks and traditional

sites will blur, making every Web site into a social experience.

4. Te era o social context. Next year, as sites begin to recognize people’s personal identities and

their social relationships, they will customize visitors’ experiences based on their preerences,

their behaviors, and who their riends are. In addition to enabling more intense social

applications, in this stage social networks will absorb eatures o email and become a base o

operations or everyone’s online experiences.

5. Te era o social commerce. Starting about two years rom now, as social networks become the

repository or identities and relationships, they will become more powerul than corporate Web

sites and CRM systems. Communities will become the driving orce or innovation. As a result,brands will cater to communities, resulting in a power shi toward the connected customer.



© 2009, Foeste reseah, I. repodtio Pohiited Api 27, 2009



3

Figr 1 The Fie Eas O The Soia We

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.46970

Social networks

Web sites

Era of social relationships

Web sites

Era of social functionality

Web sites

Era of social colonization

Shared IDShared ID

Era of social context

ContextContext

Era of social commerce

Web sites

Shared social experience

Applications

Widgets

Web sites

Social networks

Social networks Social networks









4

Figr 2 Timig O The Fie Oeappig Eas


2006 2013

Era of social relationships

Era of social functionality

Era of social colonization

2007

Era of social context

Era of social commerce

2008 201220112009 2010

Start: 1995Maturity: 2003 to 2007

Start: 2010Maturity: 2012



Start: 2007Maturity: 2010 to 2012

2014

Note: These eras are not sequential but overlapping

In T era O Social Fnctionality, T Focs Rmains On Actiity Within Social Ntwors

Te past ve years o social network evolution have been about growth o adoption (see Figure 3).2

Now, as the era o social relationships gives way to the era o social unctionality, the inhabitants o

the islands that are today’s separate social networks will adopt a more useul social experience — but

they’ll still be stuck on those islands (see Figure 4). For example, Facebook’s platorm allows

sophisticated social experiences like the iLike application or sharing music preerences among

riends, but these experiences don’t extend beyond the boundaries o Facebook and iLike.com. In

this era:

· Consumers share their experiences but can’t connect them across networks. Consumers

have rapidly ramped up their social network activity, with 35% joining up in the US, 18% in

Europe, 51% in Korea, and 30% in Japan.3 But multiple IDs are a problem. Among the US online

consumers who visit Facebook, LinkedIn, or MySpace at least monthly, 42% must juggle at leasttwo social network IDs.4 And 63% o those in social networks are also logging in to discussion

orums — again with a separate ID.5 Just as early AOL users were not able to email those

outside o AOL, none o these IDs work outside the social networks they belong to. Tis creates

riction or consumers who must now manage multiplying personal inormation and username/

password combinations. It’s hard to keep track o connections when your riends and contacts






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may be in Cyworld, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, witter, Xing, or any o a hundred

other places.

· Social networks have evolved into operating systems, but their reach is limited. Even aspeople are rustrated by the boundaries between sites, the social network sites are chang at

the limits o their reach. Currently, only a ew sites have enabled Facebook Connect, the system

or recognizing Facebook IDs on the broader Web; as a result, Facebook’s inuence stops when

you browse elsewhere. Social network sites have to remind people to come back by generating

“BACN” — email notications o activity happening back in the social networks.

· Brands connect with proles and applications but can’t reach the whole audience. While

42% o consumers would be willing to interact with their avorite brands socially, they’re

split on which type o interaction they’d preer.6 So Victoria’s Secret needs a separate presence

on Facebook and MySpace. Dell connects with some customers on Facebook but maintains

multiple communities on its own site. Whether brands attract consumers to their own social

community or chase them in the sites they requent, they still seem to be connecting with

“identities,” not actual people.

Figr 3 The Stead rise O Soia netwok Adoptio


Source: Consumer Technographics® Q3 2005 North American Media & Marketing Online Survey; Forrester’sNACTAS Q3 2006 Media & Marketing Online Survey; North American Social Technographics Online Survey, Q22007; and North American Technographics Media And Marketing Online Survey, Q2 2008

Percent who have ever used social networks

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

2008200720062005

Base: US online adults






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Figr 4 The Eotio O The Soia We Aets cosmes, bads, Ad Soia netwoks


Era of social

relationships

Era of social

functionality

Era of social

colonization

Era of

social context

Era of

social commerce

Start;maturity

Descriptions

Consumers

Brands

Socialnetworks

Othermedia

1995;2003 to 2007

2007;2010 to 2012

2009;2011

2010;2012

2011;2013

Use simple profileand discussionfeatures to sharewith each other

Embed Webapplications andwidgets on theirprofiles to makeexperience more

fun and useful

Lean on theirpeers’ opinions tomake decisionsabout products

Opt in to sharetheir identity inreturn for a morerelevant Webexperience

Work with peersto define the nextgeneration of products; alsopurchase in

groups

Join onlinegroups usingconversationalmarketing orsponsorship, orcreate their owncommunity

Individualsassemble andconnect witheach other inonline groups.

Social networksbecome operatingsystems.

Web sites deliverpersonalizedcontent to visitors.

Every Web site isnow social, evenif it doesn’tchoose to be.

Online groupssupplant brands.

Advertise, thensponsor, thencreate applicationsto provide utilityto consumers

Focus oninfluencers andincluding socialrecommendations

Provide specializedcontent for visitors;get rid of registration pages

Lean on groups todefine products

Struggle withmonetization

Share asdevelopers tomonetizeapplications

Aggregate allimplicit andexplicit data,creating a newtype of socialinbox

Become theidentity system of the Web

Offer features tohelp with productdesign and vendormanagement

The world is moreconnected.

Office appsbecome social;even solitairegames have socialleaderboards.

Mobile devicestrigger in-storedisplays to showcustom content.

TV offerspersonalizedinteractivechannels forviewers.

A new PR agencyemerges thatrepresentsonline groups— not brands.

In T era O Social Colonization, Commnitis Will Trars T Intrnt

Many o the rustrations o current social networking stem rom the limits o traversing the Web

without your social identity. Tis is why players in this space including Google, Microso, andYahoo! are working together on a shared identity system called OpenID.7 For example, in a bid to

extend the reach o its new browser, Chrome, we expect Google to build OpenID and its associated

riend connections into the browser; look or Fireox and eventually Internet Explorer to copy this

eature. Facebook and MySpace will also likely build a way or users to sur the Web within the

Facebook experience, retaining the social unctionality. Tese connections won’t be perect, but






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they’ll allow social networks to colonize communities and other parts o the Web, extending their

experience out to other sites through the shared ID. As a result, in two years, portable identities will

become a ubiquitous part o the online experience as they reach maturity.

· For consumers, surng the Web will no longer be a lonely experience. Te new browsers and

identity technologies will let consumers choose to sur the Web and see what sites their riends

have visited — and what they thought o the inormation there. Because they trust their riends

more than they trust companies, they’ll lean on their network to make decisions about what

they’re reading, considering, and buying.8

· o add value, social networks will aggregate members’ activities and those o their network.

o help people make sense o their social activities across the Web, social networks like

Facebook and LinkedIn will collect and prioritize their members’ activities on their prole

pages within social networks. Tey’ll merge these into their messaging systems and newseeds,

allowing users not only to control their communications with other sites but also to see where

and what their riends are doing on the open Web. People will start to rely on this inbox/

newseed as an equally important communications channel to their traditional email.

· Brands will shif ocus rom traditional marketing to social recommendations. Peers’

recommendations will become more visible, so marketers will boost their eforts to inuence

communities by encouraging word o mouth rom consumer brand advocates. As communities

become more powerul, expect brands to use both PR and sponsored conversations to reach out

to micro-celebrities and micro-experts in each niche — mommy bloggers and political pundits,

or example.9

In T era O Social Contxt, T Intrnt Dlirs Prsonalizd exprincs

Starting in 2010, the portable identity will make the Web more relevant because it will include not

only inormation about riends but also about people’s preerences, demographics, and history.

Consumers will opt in to share this inormation with online communities and other Web sites in

exchange or a more relevant Web experience, much as they now allow sites to use browser cookies.

Tis personalized experience will build bridges between social networks, sites, and any other

medium that can connect with these identication tools.

· Consumers will expose parts o their IDs to sites. Portable IDs mean you’ll be able to ip a

switch to tell Nike you’re a woman who runs 12 miles a week and immediately see the shoesthat are best or you — along with input rom experiences o your running buddies. Te levels

o experience will vary based on how much context people are willing to share (see Figure 5).

We also expect consumers to gather together virtually with their riends or shared experiences,

watching online video or visiting wedding registries as they re of instant messages about what

they’re seeing. Digital breadcrumbs rom riends will help consumers to navigate what matters

to them.






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· Social networks will shif their business models. During this era, social networks will

experience pain as weakness in their advertising-supported business model blocks revenue

growth. Instead, they’ll explore a number o diferent models, including more interactive

advertisements, helping companies to deliver better-branded social and community experiences,

and aggregating knowledge rom consumer data. In the end, since they won’t be able to charge

consumers much, their money has to come rom marketers. Look or social sites, especially

Facebook and witter, to concentrate in this era on marketing services based on identication o

key inuencers, tracking what they’re saying, and then serving that valuable inormation up to

brands at a ee.

· Brands will personalize their Web site experiences to drive results. Brands will develop their

competencies to best provide personalized inormation to attract and retain customers. Should

people with more riends in the local area get an automatic discount? Do older consumers

with less developed social graphs need their hands held as they browse? Web experience andanalytics will become tightly coupled as brands in search o higher yields dynamically adjust

how their sites and social network proles react to visitors. One likely ofshoot will be a decrease

in the number o advertisements produced, even as they become more personalized with

higher click-through rates and CPMs. We expect new metrics to arise as brands recognize that

developing a an generates more business than making an individual sale.10

· Search results serve content based on social relevance. Consumers want aster and more

relevant inormation in their lives, especially in search. Search engines like Google, Microso,

and Yahoo! will access consumers’ preerences and social riends to help match and deliver

more related content. Expect search engine results to serve up inormation based on both what

riends have clicked on and on the choices o people who share similar traits to the searcher.

· Mobile devices will allow anyone to have an entourage in their pocket. Because people

rely on mobile devices or near constant communication, they’ll naturally tap into their

communities on the go.11 We’re already seeing mobile social networks like Facebook Connect,

Loopt, and Whrrl. In the era o social context, these trends will expand as consumers broadcast

their personalized signal in real-world stores and share specialized services, deals, or products.

Electronic displays or registers will evolve to reect what these communities are saying.

Marketers will also be able to provide contextual advertising — with a social twist — in outdoor

digital displays.

· V providers will marry the social graph with traditional V — birthing social V. In order

to compete with eyeballs shiing to the Web, Comcast will extend social content to V using

data rom the cable operator’s 2008 acquisition o social network Plaxo. ools like boxee will

evolve beyond organizing media on your laptop to extending your social network to all the

screens you own. As a result, communities will be able to recommend shows to their riends and

share opinions about the plot, characters, and advertisements in real time or asynchronously.






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Actors and producers will talk back to communities using the same social tools, bridging

the experience between actor and audience. Eventually, operators like ime Warner Cable

and Verizon will create customized V channels based on riend recommendations, much as

Pandora currently does or music. As a result, channel surng to nd “the least objectionableprogram” will become ar less common.

Figr 5 lees O Soia cotet That cosmes ca Shae


PreferencesWhat peoplesay they want

BehavioralWhat people actually do

Social contextInfluence from trusted peers

Location-basedMobile or consumer-specified

location and time

Community contextPeople who share similar traits

with the consumer

The rules of an online social contract state that consumers will provide access topersonal information in exchange for more personalized content. The portableidentity brings new ways for consumers to obtain a personalized relevantexperience. For brands, this provides opportunities to increase advertisingrelevancy and to engage in a more meaningful relationship with consumers.

In T era O Social Commrc, Social Ntwors Will Gain Powr Or Brands

Within two years, we will start to see versatile IDs that will allow social sites and the Web to merge

into a single common experience — the islands will have combined to orm a single nation. Users inthis era will have mastery over their identities and what they choose to expose to brands. As a result,

they will band together to use collaboration tools to dene how they want brands to serve them. A

suite o community tools to manage companies — or as Harvard’s Doc Searls has called it, “vendor

relationship management” — will become a reality.12 o keep up, companies will need to cater to the

needs o communities (see Figure 6). Although it will take our years to mature, the power will shi

to communities within social networks, and brands that don’t respond will lose market share.






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· Consumers will let communities take the driver’s seat when it comes to buying. Having

recognized their collective power by banding together, consumers in communities will at rst

work together to do group buys. Ten they’ll evolve to use tools like Ideastorm to dene what

uture products will look like. When it’s possible to meet those needs economically, companies

will respond. In the end, communities will dene the eatures o a desired product and brands

will bid or their business.

· Social networks will become next-generation CRM systems. At rst, we’ll continue to see

vendors like Apprio pass small bits o user data to CRM systems like salesorce.com, but users

will be reluctant to give ull access to their data to brands they don’t trust. Eventually, social

networks including Facebook, LinkedIn, and witter will include more sophisticated controls

on which data customers wish to share with brands, earning consumer trust. As a result, these

social networks will evolve into the holding ground o customer inormation. Social networks

will derive power rom a new role: a customer-relationship intermediary between brands andconsumers.

· Registration pages will go away, and Web site content will ragment. Because Web sites will

know who’s visiting, the annoying ritual o lling out registration pages will disappear — sites

will get the required inormation rom social network IDs, when consumers permit it. But the

sites themselves will eventually become less and less relevant. As content on sites becomes

more targeted and based around visitors and community, corporate Web sites will begin to

distribute content to people as they need it instead o orcing them to si through complex site

experiences. As a result, users will need to rely less on search and surng to get inormation

and will lean more on sharing their needs in exchange or receiving inormation that ts their

behaviors, preerences, and community.






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ISSueS LIke PRIvACY MeAN The PATh TO ThIS FuTuRe WILL Be BuMPY

Because o the compelling desire o consumers to streamline their experience and o brands to reach

out to those consumers using social tools, the socially aware Web is inevitable. But it won’t be simple

to get there. Among the challenges that need resolving are privacy and social network atigue.

· Privacy will continue to scare users as they connect with brands. Te tradeof seems simple:

Users provide some personal inormation in order to receive a more relevant experience. But

any inormation sharing will raise privacy risks, especially as brands present the occasional

ill-considered message like “Welcome back, Michael. Did you know we’ve got Viagra now in

stock?” Expect continued user paranoia over mistrust o brands and social networks. Also look

or people to continue to maintain multiple IDs or diferent aspects o their experience, much

as they may now have several email addresses. But as the millennials begins to lead in both

consuming and adopting new Web experiences, their experience with public sharing will lead

the way or less trusting generations.

· Overexposure will cause people to withdraw rom social networks rom time to time. As in

real lie, social connections online can be energizing yet emotionally draining. Expect users to

dial up and down their social experience based on their day-to-day comort level — especially

as their work and personal lives intersect. Even wallowers will have riends who draw them

into social connections online, but expect their participation to remain ar more passive, carried

along with the more active and open members o the community.

· Social networks will need to seriously bee up their data processing abilities. CRM and

related revenue systems have evolved over decades to deliver the customer insights brands

need. Te data and technology inrastructure within a site like Facebook are designed todeliver experiences to consumers, not to integrate with marketers’ operational systems. I the

uture we’ve described is to come to pass, then social networks must devote major resources

to technology oundations within the next ew years to deliver a real-time, reliable, and secure

environment or customer and brand inormation that integrates with marketer systems.

r E c O M M E n D A T I O n S

FOCuS ON ADvOCATeS AND PRePARe FOR COMMuNITIeS

Maketes mst e ead o et moe hages i how the eah stomes oe the et ew

eas. Taditioa maketig is eomig ess eetie, ad to etoo it, maketes mst do moe

isteig tha takig. To thie i this apid hagig eiomet:

· Brands mst ocs on tir most ocal adocats. new oms o adoa wi emege

as soia appiatios sstems eae atig ieds’ eptatios o eiaiit. bease

osmes wi tst thei pees, ads mst ea to e o thei adoates moe tha ee.






13

As a est, maketes shod deeop eatioships with ke iees withi ommities,

wi them oe, ad aow them to a the message to the ommit. bads shod oe

ieties ike gop disots to adoates ad thei oowes. Those with ewe ea as

wi hoose atheti ad taspaet sposoed oesatios istead.

· Martrs mst ol dirct mail rom broadcast to social. bease osmes wi

oto the messages the eeie, the wi e ae to see o ok iomatio om ads.

bt tst is high amog pees, so messages om ieds wi get thogh. Maketes shod

egi to deeop a ew om o emai maketig that eoages osmes to owad

oes to thei ieds, as a edosemet. Peope whose ieds sig p wi eome tsted

ad adoates. look to ioatio withi deeope patoms ike yahoo! Ope Stateg,

whih aows thid-pat deeopes to iteat with eistig yahoo! Toos. Miosot’s

Widows lie is aead moig i this dietio. Epet these potas to ompete o how

we the hep osmes keep p with soia etwoks.

· Martrs mst ocs on pll as “opt-in” mtrics ta t plac o conrsions. bease

the egistatio pages that maketes se to mease oesios ae headed towad

etitio, maketes mst e ead istead to seek ad mease “opt-is,” the eets i

whih osmes idiate the wat moe iomatio withot eposig thei idetit.

bad maketes shod deeop a ew om o a soia otat that oaes osmes to

shae iomatio i ehage o pemim otet, disots, o othe speia seies.

· Brands mst prpar intrnal cltr or ts sits — starting rom t top down.

Hee’s how to pepae o the majo shit i ad stateg that these soia hages etai:

Seio maketes shod stat patiipatig i the Soia We themsees ad ea o

sta maketes who destad the Soia We ad eoage them to edate othes. To

deeop istat tst, oside hiig o ostig with maketes om the ommit itse,

as Fod did with momm ogge Jessia Smith.

W H A T I T M E A n S

AS POWeR ShIFTS TO COMMuNITIeS, MARkeTING WILL TRANSFORM ITSeLF

The powe shit is’t jst aot soia etwoks, sie it tigges hages i a aspets o maketes’

go-to-maket pas. Maketes ae eteig a wod i whih empoweed ommities wi ot

o defe how the wat to e maketed to t aso defe podt desig ad deeopmet.

·Adrtisrs will by basd on social capital — not jst pag iws and clics. The

ae o ads wi ot e who sees them t the ikeihood that those seeig wi take atio.

Epet to see piig ased o iee. As a eampe, oside soia ads ike Faeook

egagemet ads, whih aow osmes to shae with thei etwoks. The moe ietia

the idiida, the moe ike he ommit wi egage with the ad; ad pies wi hage

to eet this.13






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· Social ntwors will dirntiat basd on tir mmbrs and comptncis. Whie

soia etwok siess modes wi a eoe towad data maagemet, we epet the

etwoks themsees to age o dieetiated positios. Fo eampe, MSpae wi

the a itse with media ompaies ad is ike to ead o shaed media epeiees.

Faeook wi os o distitig its otet to a pats o the We, whie at the same

time aggegatig atios om aoss the oade Iteet. likedI wi ee withi the

eosstem o wokes ad eites ad ma eome a ke eemet i itea opoate

soia etwoks. Ad we epet Twitte to step p as a edo o ea-time ad aatis, to

aswe the qestio “What ae peope saig aot m ad ad podts ight ow?”

· CRM ndors partnr wit social ntwors. Twitte has eome a ast-gowig soia

etwok ad wi t ito a thiig maketpae i whih osmes tak ad sppot eah

othe aot podts ad oet to eah othe ad ads. As egistatios ad sppot

poesses shit to soia etwoks ike this, taditioa crM ompaies ike Oae ad SAP

wi seek to pate with soia etwoks i ode to maitai aess to stome iteatios.

· Commnitis infnc mdia contnt. commit ioatio is’t imited to podts

aoe. We aso epet oie gops to ditate to media ompaies what tpe o otet

the pee. commities ike Digg aead idiate what oe teh-osed adiee

pees, ad we epet simia depomets to asade to othe etias. Simpe toos ike

tipjo, whih aows eades to poide miopamets, od eoage wites o ogges

to oe topis that ommities wat. Hid modes hae aead eg to appea, as

Demad Media aows sjet matte epets om the owd to smit stoies, whih the

ompa the s ad pishes.

·Brands wit commnity appal will assrt powr or brands witot it. As ads

with soia ahet, ike Ae, egi to esoate with thei ommities, those withot, ike

right Gad, wi hae to make a hoie. bads akig se appea wi e oed to oside

aqisitio o ads thiig withi a ommit — o isk eig aqied themsees.

SuPPLeMeNTAL MATeRIAL

Companis Intriwd For Tis Docmnt

Appirio

Cisco Eos

DellFacebook

Federated Media Publishing

Flock

Gigya

Google

Graphing Social Patterns

IBMIntel

KickApps

LinkedIn

Meebo






15

Microso

MySpace

OpenID Foundation

Plaxo

Pluck

Razorsh

ReadWriteWeb

salesorce.com

Six Apart

witter

eNDNOTeS

1 AOL was one o the rst online communities to pioneer consumer relationships and connections, but in

these early online communities, members were unable to email members o other ISPs. Tis is similar to

today’s social network identity dilemma. Social networks will standardize data transer just as email systems

did in the past. Expect the uniying technologies like Facebook Connect or Open Stack, which includes

OpenID, to lead the way.

2 How we asked consumers i they used social networks evolved with their adoption over the past ew years.

In 2005, “ever used social networks” was dened as “I belong to at least one social networking site but use

it/them less than once a week or more.” In 2006, it was dened as “use social networking sites less than

monthly or more.” In 2007 and 2008, it was dened as “visit social networking sites less than monthly or

more.”

3 Social echnographics® compares the behaviors o consumers using diferent social technologies. From

2007 to 2008, there was an increase in Joiners (social network members) rom 25% to 35% o the online US

population. See the October 20, 2008, “Te Growth O Social echnology Adoption” report.

4

Source: North American echnographics Media And Marketing Online Survey, Q2 2008.5 Source: North American echnographics Media And Marketing Online Survey, Q2 2008.

6 More than hal o online tweens and teens and 42% o online adults want to interact with their avorite

brands. For example, one in our US online adults want to see discussion orums rom brands they like,

while more than one-third o teens want proles on social networks. See the April 16, 2009, “Te Social

ools Consumers Want From Teir Favorite Brands” report.

7 Several players in the social network space have indicated support or the Open ID Foundation, a cross-

industry oundation that strives to provide standards or the Social Web. Source: “Microso and Google

announce OpenID support,” OpenID, October 30, 2008 (http://openid.net/2008/10/30/microso-and-

google-announce-openid-support/).

8 Consumers trust each other; in act, 77% said they trusted emails rom riends they know and 60% said they

trusted consumer product ratings and reviews. Tereore, marketers should prioritize energizing and word-

o-mouth campaigns to get customers talking to each other. See the February 17, 2009, “Peer Inuence In

An Unstable Economy ” report.
















16

9 Dozens o brands, in order to reach online inuencers have begun to engage in Sponsored Conversations,

which Forrester denes as a marketing technique in which marketers provide nancial or material

compensation to bloggers in exchange or their posting blog content about a brand. Keep in mind that to be

successul, marketers must mandate transparency and authenticity. See the March 2, 2009, “Add SponsoredConversations o Your oolbox” report.

10 Te OpenID Foundation is ocused on creating a single identity system that can be used across many

Web sites, enabling users to register once across all Web sites. Tis identity system allows consumers to

benet rom contextual inormation rom Web sites that allow the identity to be shared. Chris Messina, a

member o the board o the OpenID Foundation shares more in “Portable Proles & Preerences on the

Citizen-Centric Web” Factory City, April 8, 2009 (http://actoryjoe.com/blog/2009/04/08/portable-proles-

preerences-on-the-citizen-centric-web/).

11 Mobile Internet adoption in North America is still slow because while users nd the content and services

useul, they are not easy or enjoyable to use. Yet as these technologies and devices improve, expect an

increase in adoption. See the July 9, 2008, “Usability And Cost Slow Mobile Internet Adoption” report.

12 VRM, or vendor relationship management, is being pioneered in concept at Berkman Center or Internet

and Society at Harvard University and headed by Doc Searls. Te project is designing a system where

consumers will be empowered to own their own data, as well as dictate to brands and institutions like

healthcare companies what products they want. Source: Project VRM (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/

projectvrm/Main_Page).

13 Social ads allow community members to interact with these hal-widget, hal-advertisement units. As

users interact with them, it triggers actions on their activity eed, encouraging other users to participate.

Facebook was one o the rst to ofer its version o these ads, which it calls engagement ads, Pluck has

partnered with Razorsh to ofer a version called AdLie, and KickApps also has a version called labeledWidgeAds. See the August 25, 2008, “Facebook’s Engagement Ads Require A Social Approach” report.











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