theEweekly Wrap - Social Sorted, Yahoo Japan, Google mobile

Socially minded

theEword and Juice Digital teamed up this week for 'Social Media. Sorted'; an event which saw several of the region's leading social media thinkers present a series of talks to the Twitterati of Manchester. The evening, which was held at a sell-out Hive, featured talks from theEword's director Al Mackin, Steve Downes, the managing director of Juice Digital, Mel McGuirk from Pannone and Nick Massey, chief executive of Forever Manchester. theEword managing director Al Mackin said: "Social Media. Sorted was a unique opportunity to discover how social media marketing can deliver incredible results. We were thrilled that Manchester's leading social media experts agreed to share their knowledge about this exciting medium." For a full report on the Manchester social media event, you can read Richard Frost's blog on the evening at theEword blog. Alternatively, you can find out what others had to say by searching for the #socialsorted hashtag on Twitter.

Big in Japan

Yahoo Japan surprised most SEO and online marketing commentators this week by announcing it would be signing a two-year deal with Google. The arrangement, which is similar to the deal signed between the US arms of Yahoo and Bing in 2009, sees Yahoo Japan return search results, courtesy of the Google algorithm. Reporting on the story, the International Business Times said: "Yahoo! Japan announced a deal to switch to Google's search engine technology from its own technology. As per the deal, Yahoo! Japan will use Google's online advertising and distribution system, in return Google will be provided access to data on online shopping trends." Reacting to the news, Yahoo US, which does not own a controlling share in its Japanese arm, commented: "Yahoo Japan made this decision as an independent and separate publicly traded company, in which Yahoo! holds a 35% equity interest. We amended our agreement with Yahoo! Japan as a result of this decision, and we do not anticipate that this amendment will have a material financial impact on our revenues."

Mobile monsters

Google's dominance of the mobile search market was revealed this week after research suggested that the company had obtained over 98 per cent of the global mobile search audience. The statistics from the data hounds at ComScore discovered the search engine giant had pocketed 98.29 per cent of mobile searchers. In contrast, Yahoo and Bing both scored 0.81 and 0.46 per cent of the market. This will be welcome news for Google, particularly as the company has previously stated its desire to capitalise on the mobile users. Speaking earlier in the year, the firm's CEO Eric Schmidt said: "We operate with the assumption people will carry with them a mobile device at all times, and that there are applications we can build/people will build on our platform that will allow people to be more productive, more fun."

Social Media. Sorted.

Social media marketing is important to us here at theEword. We know the discipline may be relatively new, but it is already providing incredible opportunities for organisations in Manchester and beyond to spread their message far and wide.

Actions speak louder than words

Of course, it's easy to talk grandly about Twitter, Facebook and the rest – but it's another thing entirely to really take the time to persuade local businesses about their commercial viability. On our part, we recently published the landmark Manchester Twitter Report that analysed hundreds of official accounts and explained how anyone can follow in the footsteps of the city's star performers. Since then, we have announced an exciting partnership with social media marketing agency Juice Digital, part of Tangerine PR. This will see us help Juice Digital with the SEO side of things, while we gain the benefit of their considerable expertise in social.

Social Media. Sorted

If any further proof were needed, theEword underlined its commitment to social last night with Social Media. Sorted. Organised in collaboration with Juice Digital, this free event took place in the stylish surroundings of thestudio in the heart of the Northern Quarter. Around 100 people turned up to feast on the free food and drink, put faces to avatars and glean insights from four key players in Manchester's social media revolution.



Steve Downes

First up, Steve Downes, managing director of Juice Digital, took to the stage and asked if Manchester was the social media capital of Europe. That was the cue for a whistle-stop tour of the continent; eastern Europeans are apparently big fans of StumbleUpon, Germans are concerned about Facebook's security settings and Scandinavians are in love with networking. As for the social media capital, Madrid probably scoops that accolade although Manchester isn't far behind.

Al Mackin

Next up, our very own managing director Al Mackin took us through some of the highlights of the Manchester Twitter Report. Linn Froding, the voice of Walrus Bar on Twitter, took a bow after we learned how the Northern Quarter venue managed to run away with the title of best Twitter account in Manchester. Al also discussed the recent extension of theEword report to include two new categories – Politics (won by Andrew Gwynne MP) and Sport (won by Man City).



Mel McGuirk

Thirdly, Mel McGuirk, media partner at Pannone, provided a tantalising glimpse into the legal implications of social media. We were told about the potential pitfalls of writing, linking and even retweeting defamatory content – an often overlooked aspect of online copywriting. Some fascinating real-world examples really hammered home the message that everyone involved in social media marketing should create a disaster recovery plan lest the lawyers come calling.

Nick Massey

Finally, Nick Massey, chief executive of Forever Manchester, wrapped up proceedings by outlining how his organisation is reaping the rewards of social media marketing. As the third sector braces itself for further funding cuts, he explained that Twitter and Facebook are providing inexpensive but essential openings to build the Forever Manchester brand.

Browser Share Experiment: The Result!

So my browser challenge has come to an end. Originally, I set out to use different browsers so that I could see if I was missing out by settling with Firefox. Having used other browsers before, I switched to Firefox a few months ago. Unlike many others I, fortunately, was never plagued with the problems of Firefox acting too slow or crashing constantly.

Firstly, I started with Internet Explorer. Whilst this wasn’t perfect, it also probably wasn’t as terrible as I had thought it might be. Then came trusty Firefox, which I tried to use as fairly as possible. And it turns out it wasn’t as perfect as I’d thought – there are still some things that I don’t like. After Firefox was Safari. And I think we can all safely say how that would never be a contender to win the coveted title.

However, this past week I’ve had to use Google Chrome. Chrome was a browser I’d always been a little curious about, though had always dismissed and never bothered to test. And whilst there have been a few tiny niggles, these were completely outweighed by the positive experiences I had with the browser. It has the speed that Safari had (when it worked!), the usability that Firefox had and the style that Firefox lacked.
So what is my final decision? Well, I’ve surprised myself. I didn’t think that there would be a browser that could challenge Firefox, or take away its crown – but there was. I started using Google Chrome the moment I got on my own computer over the weekend, so if that doesn’t tell you that there was a clear winner, I don’t know what will!

I loved how easy it was to use Google Chrome. It was fast, intuitive and looked beautiful. The care and attention to detail that appears to have gone into the browser seems enormous, and it has great results. The speed was brilliant, and I’ve found that I actually like having an uncluttered browser with no toolbars. I will though, continue to use Firefox in a small way – Firebug is too good a tool to give up on, or to stop using, so I will continue to test all my websites using Firefox. However, Chrome is where I will always start.

Thank you to all the readers that have stuck with me through this rather strange, challenging yet undoubtedly rewarding journey. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading how I’ve got on using other browsers for a week at a time. I also hope it may help you in making your own decisions as to what browser you are, or inspiring you to start your own challenge to find out what works best for you.

As I said earlier, I’m quite surprised that I found a browser that has been able to challenge Firefox. I have now solved my dilemma though – when people ask me “What browser are you?” I can answer “Chrome, of course!”

Browser Share Experiment: Google Chrome

The final week has been completed on my browser share experiment! It’s been a ride that’s dipped up and down almost as much as a rollercoaster at Alton Towers would, but it’s over and soon you can find out my final decision. If you’re far too excited or just plain impatient...then unfortunately you’ll have to wait until this afternoon to find out what my chosen browser is. But if you’ve managed to stay on thus far, let’s continue...

My challenge this week was to use Google Chrome. Continuing on from the fiasco that was using Safari, I wasn’t expecting – or hoping – for much. However, Chrome has been one of those browsers that I’ve always been a little curious about. I’ve never used it myself, but I’ve heard great things from all the people I know that have used it. Plus, its browser share has steadily been growing since its first release – so much so, that recently it overtook the amount of people that use Internet Explorer 8 (though that wouldn’t surprise me!)

One thing that does excite me is that it also has the ability to display CSS3 – and with every week comes new tips, tricks and techniques you can do to make your websites even more beautiful than they already are. Anyway - without further ado, read on to see how I got on during the week.

Monday
Today is the first day I’ve actually felt excited about using a new browser, though I’m really hoping this doesn’t turn out as disastrous as it did with Safari. Moving on though, I’ve been surprised at how responsive, quick and beautiful Chrome is. Firstly, it’s so quick that it has no trouble in opening the 20+ tabs I’ve tested each browser with. It loads each tab very quickly, and I can even open a new window and use that while it loads the other pages. And moving onto beautiful...well, having seen screenshots of the browser before now I thought I’d hate the interface and lack of buttons or options. However, the simplistic nature of the interface really does work rather well. It looks stunning. I also like that you can apply different themes to it if you want – though I’ve not found one that I like just yet.

Tuesday
Well today has gone perfectly again. Already I’m thinking that Chrome has a very high chance of knocking Firefox off the throne! It was really easy to import my bookmarks yesterday, something I’m very happy about. I was also amazed to see the Google Translate tool built in – I went onto a Spanish website accidentally, and it offered to translate it – a click later and voila, an almost perfect translation! There is one little niggle though - I don’t like the way that I can’t ask the browser to automatically delete my browsing history upon exit or after 1 day. I like to do this, but have to do it manually. One shortcut though (Ctrl + Shift + Delete) and it’s done – so not too much hassle.

Wednesday
I love Chrome. There – I said it. I’m really starting to love this browser more and more. Each morning on my browser share experiment before now, I’ve had to force myself to remember that I needed to use that browser. However, with Chrome it’s already a natural thing for me to click Chrome and start browsing. One thing I’ve noticed that is slightly less user-friendly (though no extra trouble) is when I want to view an image in a page. If I right click on it, in any other browser I can click “View image” and it will automatically send me to that page with the image present. In Chrome though, you have to click “View image in new tab”. Nevertheless, this is such a small and trivial thing (as the option is still there to view the image) that it really doesn’t make a difference. Either that or...how does the saying go – “Love is blind?”

Thursday
I’m only halfway through Thursday at the moment, but there’s one thing that I’ve found that is bugging me just a little bit about Chrome...sometimes, I leave tabs open in a web page to look at again. However, on Firefox you can have a little option where it will save your tabs if you accidentally close the browser. On Chrome this doesn’t seem possible and even after a quick Google search, I can’t find a solution. On the one hand this is quite annoying, but on the other hand I suppose it would stop me from being lazy and leaving things unorganised. I’m still undecided about this issue though.

Edit: I've been told by a few people that you can choose to have tabs saved when you close the browser - just go to Options > Basics and under the "On startup" section choose "Reopen the pages that were opened last". Thanks!

Friday
Today’s been a breeze. It really is just such a pleasure using Chrome. Apart from the tiny niggles that I’ve mentioned so far, I’ve had absolutely no problems with Chrome. Today has been no different, with the browser working exactly as it should. I still quite like the Chrome Developer Tools, but I don’t think it is as powerful as Firebug is, though I think it would be hard to beat Firebug!

Overall this has been a good end to the week. I can’t help but compare it to Safari last week – it’s definitely been a much more enjoyable, straightforward and effortless week.

theEweekly Wrap - Social media sorted, Facebook and Yahoo

Social Media Manchester

theEword unveiled the 'Social Media. Sorted' event this week. Hosted in conjunction with Juice Digital, the two-hour session sees the region's leading voices present a number of social media talks. Hosted at The Hive, the event takes place on Wednesday 28th July and sees theEword's Al Mackin, Juice Digital's Steve Downes, Nick Massey from Forever Manchester and Mel McGuirk, Media Partner from Manchester law firm Pannone talk about different aspects of social media. Speaking about the evening, theEword managing director Al Mackin said: "Social Media. Sorted is a unique opportunity to discover how social media marketing can deliver incredible results. We are thrilled that Manchester's leading social media experts have agreed to share their knowledge about this exciting medium. In the Manchester Twitter Report, Manchester City are worthy champions but the lack of an official Manchester United account shows even world-famous brands can miss an open goal." Visit theEword for more information and to book tickets.

500 million friends

In other social media news, Facebook popped open the champagne as it officially registered 500 million users. The landmark figure was revealed on Thursday, in conjunction with a new feature to celebrate the milestone - Facebook Stories. "I could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started six years ago," said Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook. The news of the benchmark will offer some light relief to the Facebook team; the company has faced intense pressure over the last few months concerning its privacy and safety settings. Despite the criticism though, Zuckerberg is confident about reaching the next landmark figure: 1 billion users. Indeed, the increasing popularity of Facebook in the Far East will probably give the Facebook team much to cheer about; the site has achieved a 884 per cent growth in Taiwan and a 504 per cent increase of users in Thailand over the past year.

Testing ground

Yahoo has revealed that up to 25 per cent of searches on the site are being powered by Bing, the Microsoft search engine. The search engine stated that testing of the Bing algorithm was in its initial stages as the site prepares to fully integrate the Microsoft engine into its SERPs. Writing on the Yahoo blog, a spokesperson for Yahoo commented: "We've started testing organic (also referred to as algorithmic) and paid search listings from Microsoft for up to 25 percent of Yahoo! Search traffic in the U.S. "The primary change for these tests is that the listings are coming from Microsoft. However, the overall page should look the same as the Yahoo Search you’re used to – with rich content and unique tools and features from Yahoo." The complete integration of the two companies is expected to be completed by Autumn 2010.

Browser Share Experiment: Apple Safari

This week, I’m persisting in my quest to find my perfect browser. This week I’m using Apple Safari, a browser that until not long ago was a browser based only for Apple’s Mac computers. Having used Safari before, I think I have a clear idea of what to expect – but I’ve never used it on a PC, so I’m wondering how it will compare.

So how did I get on this week? Read on to find out!



Monday
My initial thoughts are very mixed – in some ways I absolutely love this browser, and in others I really can’t stand it. The first thing I notice is how quick the browser is. It opens a single page quicker than I can blink an eye - even if these pages seem quite image heavy or more intensive than others. However, trying to import my bookmarks (as I have done each week, into my different browsers) is a ridiculous task. I ended up having to drag and drop each individual bookmark from Firefox into Safari. I lost my patience after about 5 solid minutes of this, and ended up only importing the bookmarks that were necessities.

Tuesday
As quick as Safari is, there’s one thing that is really starting to bug me. I don’t like the way that when opening multiple sites from my bookmarks folder, it overwrites the current tabs I have open. Bear in mind, this is only when right clicking on a bookmark folder and choosing “Open in tabs”. I’d still expect this to be done in separate tabs – I find I have to open a brand new page if I want to open several bookmarks at once from one folder.

Wednesday
So part-way through yesterday Safari started being really, really slow and crashed once or twice. I just put it down to the internet being slow, or some similar excuse. However, today has been an absolute nightmare. Pages won’t load, and Safari is constantly crashing – no matter what I do. I get as far as typing “www.g” to visit Google before it grinds to a halt and refuses to work. And the only way I could get out of it was to restart my computer.

So I uninstalled it. Sorry to let you all down for not completing the week, but it’s been an impossible day! There was no way I was going to continue with such an unreliable, soul-crushingly slow browser. So for now, I’m back to using Firefox.

And to summarise...if you’re on a Windows based computer – just don’t even think about installing it. It’s not worth the hassle.

This week I’m using Google Chrome. Let’s hope it goes better than last week!

theEweekly Wrap - Tweetdeck, Google and Facebook

Tweetdeck triumph

Tweetdeck, the social media monitoring software surpassed 15 million desktop downloads this week. The platform, which can be downloaded for free, celebrated the benchmark – which made it the most popular social media client – on Tuesday. The application, which recently expanded to include Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare information, now sends out 4 million social updates per day, making it five times larger than its nearest competitor. The official TweetDeck blog noted the success on Monday: "We believe the future holds even more fast-moving streams of socially relevant information. Our mission is to help our users manage and harness these information flows. To that end, we are moving towards being truly multi-stream, re-building our clients from the ground-up with multi-stream functionality ingrained rather than simply bolting on new disconnected networks."

Google's Week

Google had a good week too. Tuesday saw the release of the monthly market share research from the number-crunchers at Nielsen; a report which declared that the search engine owned 65 per cent of the US' browsers. This roughly equates to six billion queries during the month. Indeed, the team at Google Towers will have been please to hear that their share only dropped by 0.1 per cent between May and June. This success was repeated later in the week after the search engine revealed its second quarterly earnings report of 2010. The company recorded at 24 per cent year-over-year growth, depositing an additional $6.82 billion (£4.4bn) into the bank. Some highlights from the earnings report included: Google-owned products brought in $4.5bn in revenue AdSense and non-Google websites made $2.06bn 52 per cent of total revenues during the quarter came from international sources Revenues from the United Kingdom totalled $770 million (11 per cent of all revenue in Q2 2010) If you feel so inclined, you can click here to read the full financial statement from Google.

Facebook panic

After months of pressure, Facebook announced it was going to offer a 'panic button' application. The new feature, which allows minors to report abuse or bullying behaviour online, was initially resisted by Facebook when it was first suggested in November. At the time, the social network said that its own reporting systems were efficient to guarantee safety on the site. However, after increased pressure from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), Facebook ultimately agreed to the request. In a statement, Jim Gamble, Ceop's chief executive said: "Our dialogue with Facebook about adopting the ClickCeop button is well documented - today however is a good day for child protection. By adding this application, Facebook users will have direct access to all the services that sit behind our ClickCeop button which should provide reassurance to every parent with teenagers on the site."

Browser Share Experiment: Mozilla Firefox

Continuing with my challenge to find the perfect browser, this week I have been testing Firefox. Some of you, I'm sure, will say that this test may be a little biased as Firefox is my current browser of choice. However, as much as I love Firefox, I'm going to try and pick out the things I don't like about the browser - as well as what I love.

So how did I get on this week? Read on to see my summary for each day.

Monday
Oh, today has been a day sent from the gods! It has been an absolute dream to use Firefox compared to Internet Explorer last week. Firefox has, so far, been quick, responsive and overall more aesthetically pleasing. Everything is clean and laid out in a very intuitive way - no confusing placement of items such as the Home button. I do miss the fixed Favourites bar though.

Tuesday
Today has been another good day on the most part. I've found one thing that frustrates me – I wish that when deleting favourites, it gave you a second chance to say no. I was reminded of moments in the past when I've deleted a group of bookmarks or an individual bookmark unintentionally. If that second option had been there saying "Are you sure?" I wouldn't have lost some really resourceful links.

Wednesday
I'm writing this on Thursday as I forgot to write my notes up from each day! I think that symbolises how easy and natural it is working with Firefox. I no longer feel like I'm missing an arm, and I've had no problems whatsoever so far. I'm wondering if Safari and Chrome will have the ability to match Firefox and turn me away from it! At this rate they haven't got a chance.

Thursday
Today was no trouble at all. The browser's working as quickly as it has all week and I don't have any complaints!

Friday
So today has been my last day using Firefox. Again, today, I've had no complaints or issues with the browser. It always loads pages very quickly, and I've never had a case of it crashing – even when I've been opening 20 pages at once!

Summary
Well, what can I say? Compared to last week, this week has been a dream. It's been so easy to use and I find it very intuitive, particularly when placed next to Internet Explorer. Everything is set out in an easy to use manner and it feels more natural than Internet Explorer.

Unlike many cases where I've heard of Firefox crashing under intensive use, I've not had a single problem – and at times I've been opening 20+ tabs at once! One thing I noticed is that my productivity has definitely picked up – with Internet Explorer, it was impossible to complete small tasks without having to set aside extra time. This week, however, I've been able to finish tasks much more quickly, meaning I can get more done in a day than I could last week.

Yet again though, Monday is upon us and this week I'll be using Apple Safari. I've never used this browser before on a PC, but I've used it previously on my Apple Macbook and my iPhone 4. I wonder how it will turn out?

Legal Issues of Web 2.0 and Social Media

At 232 pages, Stephen Kuncewicz's debut publication is certainly comprehensive. The book, Legal Issues Of Web 2.0 and Social Media, is the first literature, to my knowledge, which explores the legal implications for companies operating across social media and the web.

Its scope is impressive - covering topics like intellectual property law, copyright, defamation, and privacy - and the publication offers an insight into existing legal precedents for those operating in social networks.

As a legal text, it offers a no-nonsense set of guidelines for those working across social channels, with entire chapters dedicated towards defamation, branding and confidentiality. The publication, which is founded on Stephen's knowledge as a solicitor, uses real-world examples (the Trafigura scandal and the Jan Moir outcry for instance) to demonstrate the potential legal issues of social media use. It takes a diligent examination of the pitfalls of a Twitter or Facebook profile, outlining the existing laws and providing a framework for those organisations wishing to step into social media.

The publication does an excellent job of framing social brand management from a legal perspective. It draws in examples from a range of social networks to highlight how organisations can manage their reputation online without falling foul of existing laws and legal precedents. Indeed, it also highlights a number of companies which have faced ramifications due to their heavy-handed social strategy.

The final section of Legal Issues of Web 2.0 and Social Media focuses its gaze on criminal law in social media with nine chapters covering subjects such as harassment, obscenity, public order and contempt of court. The section summary reads:

"While these may be some of the least commonly thought-of problems facing web users, some high-profile cases have shown that the courts will not tolerate online behaviour which breaks offline laws."

Indeed, this final section is possibly the most important for those working in social media, particularly when you consider the potential implications of breaking the law for your company or your client. Thankfully, Kuncewicz explores the current legal framework without resorting to jargon or legalese; this is clear-cut advice for those who want to avoid falling foul of the judiciary via social media.

theEword interviews Walrus Bar via Twitter

The Manchester Twitter Report ranked Walrus Bar as the most-effective company using Twitter in Manchester.

On Friday 9th July, theEword interviewed Walrus Bar via Twitter for an insight into the techniques and tips used by the account. The transcript of that interview follows:

theEword: First off, congratulations on being ranked in the #mcr_twitter report.

Walrus Bar: Thank you!

theEword: When did you start running the account and what did you hope to achieve from having a Twitter presence for the bar?

Walrus Bar: Initially the idea behing having a Twitter account was just to try out a new way of marketing. I wasn’t sure what to expect first but soon realised the potential of being able to directly communicate with people.

theEword: Interesting. Interaction is a big part of that - what have you found to be the best way to engage with followers?

Walrus Bar: I strongly believe that tweeting as a person rather than as a company has helped us reach the position we’re now in. I tweet regularly throughout the day and I try to mix all things possible in to my tweets, not just business.

theEword: How do you maintain the balance between personal and professional tweets?

Walrus Bar: I think it just comes naturally. It’s also down to the fact that I know the business I’m in very well. I’ve previously worked as a bartender and have a genuine interest and knowledge of the food and bar industry.

theEword: Let's talk a bit about promotion: How much do you work into the account and how do you find the right balance?

Walrus Bar: I don’t want it to be full of special offers and promotions everywhere so I try to balance it as much as possible. I tweet when I feel the need to let people know about the latest happening or our newest promotions. I also try to keep the promotions simple, they are very straightforward and deliver a direct message.

theEword: Do you offer any competitions or offers as part of the promotion? What’s the feedback like?

Walrus Bar: Yes, I do regular RT competitions for our followers where they can win a meal for two. It's always great fun as it brings out a very competitive side to people.

theEword: Great! Are there any other ways to get that interaction from your followers?

Walrus Bar: I take an active part as a listener as well, I get involved in discussions and tweet about recent news. Mixing a bit of work with a bit of play keeps the account “alive” and makes it more fun and interesting.

theEword: One of the main pointers in the report is that an account has to offer a personality. How do you create that?

Walrus Bar: It's not something you can "create" in that sense. I am genuinely interested in what people have to say and that results in a very personal twitter account. The difference with Twitter is that you HAVE to care and interact.

theEword: Good advice. So, how much time do you spend on the social marketing?

Walrus Bar: Twitter is with me more or less seven days a week, I also spend a lot of time on Facebook. I don't know how many hours it would all total to; the windows are always open in the background to keep me updated.

theEword: Excellent. Finally, how do you feel about being named the most-effect professional Twitter account in Manchester?

Walrus Bar: Very excited and proud! I’m glad that it’s such a success and I’ve made some very good friends along the way.

theEword: Thanks for your time and congratulations once again.

Walrus Bar: A massive thanks to you guys for creating the report! It's been really fun and very interesting to read.

theEweekly Wrap - Manchester Twitter, Bing and social news

The Manchester Twitter Report

theEword released the Manchester Twitter report this week. The paper, which investigated how Manchester companies used the social networking service, highlighted the different methods used by firms in the area to promote their products and brand. The Manchester Twitter report used a specially designed algorithm to rate and compare the various Twitter profiles in eight industry sectors. Overall, 300 accounts were measured with Manchester venue Walrus Bar being declared the most successful Twitter user in the city. Al Mackin, managing director of theEword, said of the report: "The Manchester Twitter Report shows there are huge variations in how well Manchester uses Twitter marketing. Nightlife and leisure services performed well but not for profits and news and media organisations need to change if they want to take full advantage of social media marketing" You can read the full Manchester Twitter report here.

Bing and deciders growing

Search engine Bing recorded a month-over-month growth in June, according to research by internet data firm Hitwise. The study into search engine market share found that Microsoft's 'decision engine' rose from 9.2 per cent to 9.8 per cent over the period. The investigation, which is conducted by sampling 10 million US consumers, also found that Google had shed half a percentage point during the month, leading to its score of 71.65 per cent. Yahoo's slice of browsers remained unchanged at 14.4 per cent The figures come as international blog SEO Roundtable revealed that over 1,000 users had switched to Bing as a result of the changes to the Google News site. The alterations to the news portal included the introduction of personalised news and customisable feed options.

Social news in brief

theEword wasn't the only company getting busy on social media this week as new details about the success of Facebook and Twitter came to light. In a US event, Twitter founder Biz Stone revealed that the search side of the site receives 800 million queries per day. This total means that the number of queries through Twitter have now surpassed the combined quantity of searches on Bing and Yahoo. Meanwhile, Facebook also had a good week, as Inside Facebook revealed the site had seen an increase in its global growth. The social media site has seen a record rise in its number of users from different countries; most notably in its key markets of Indonesia and India. Overall 1.2 million new sign ups were recorded from Indonesia, while 990,000 new users registered from India.

Is Google making ads more accessible?

A new test on Google's results pages has seen maps of listed companies take priority over sponsored links on paid search. While we have yet to see any changes, Google seems to be initially testing the new versions in Chicago, while there have also been reports of the new feature in searches throughout the US and Canada

There have been a number of SERP designs rolled out to users over the past week, with each update demonstrating several changes to the format of the page.

• Version 1
  The first sighting of the new SERPs shows that the map of local companies, originally situated on the left side of the page with the organic listings, has been moved to the right, above paid search results.
  
  
  
  In a search for ‘florist’, Google returned the usual organic search results but the map now took the place of sponsored links, with the latter being moved further down the page.
  



• Version 2
  
  In this update, the map scrolls as you browse results, making it viewable even when moving to view listings closer to the bottom of the page. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly for online marketers, paid local listings now take precedence with only seven organic listings being displayed in total; most of these fall further down the search results.
  
  
  
  Instead, place listings are favoured; they are larger and now include a map pin to match the map provided. Most of the results at the top of the list are in Google Places, combined with reviews and links to these original source.
  



• Version 3
  
  In the latest update to the new SERPs, all of the top ranking results are local listings. There are just four organic results and these are located at the bottom of the page.
  
  
  
  One marketer has noted a massive change in ranking as well, pointing out that two companies who had previously been stuck at #4 and #19 in their relevant SERPs had now moved to #1 and #2 respectively. This suggests that Google is also introducing an algorithm change to the process.
  

Faster and easier to find businesses and places of interest

The new changes seem to mark a determined effort from Google to provide a higher level of integration between local and organic searches, while also giving paid local listings visual priority. It also seems that the search engine is aiming to provide users with all the information they may need without having to leave the Google home page.

Indeed, a spokesperson from Google has confirmed the test and its aims, saying: "Yes, this is an experiment with a small number of users that aims to make it faster and easier for people to find business and places of interest near them."

Accessible advertising

The concept of making paid ads more accessible is by no means a new approach by Google. Earlier this year, the company introduced Click-to-Call phone numbers for mobile marketing. The new feature allows advertisers to include a clickable phone number at the end of their mobile ads. Smartphone customers are then able to click the number on the advert to contact the business directly.

AdWords allows advertisers to monitor how many calls they have received through the clickable phone number on their campaign by providing data on calls received in terms of keywords, campaign or ad group.

Both Click-to-Call and the new SERP design, if it is eventually adopted internationally, could prove invaluable to advertisers. The emphasis on accessibility for users should improve campaigns while favouring paid ads will obviously be a big money-maker for Google. It has been suspected, however, that the new SERP’s method of prioritising the map and Places listings over sponsored links may cause some grumblings in the advertising community from those who have paid to have their links displayed. It remains to be seen whether Google will find a happy medium between the two.

Writing the Manchester Twitter Report

Manchester as a city has an incredibly active social media community. Regular events such as Social Media Cafe and the recent Social Media Day and Twestival celebrations have all been organised through various social channels, including Twitter and Ning.

But, the prominent role of social media in the area isn't just limited to events and meetups; hundreds of businesses across the region use Twitter to promote their brand and products.

During my time on Twitter - both personally and professionally - I have spotted a number of businesses using the channel in a variety of clever ways; museums which were promoting their latest exhibits, bars showcasing their new quiz night and companies highlighting their latest client win. I suggested the report in order to investigate how successful this usage actually was.

In December last year, I approached Al Mackin (theEword MD) with the idea of producing a report on the local use of Twitter.

It was decided from the off that the report needed some way to differentiate how these companies used Twitter. Indeed, the team looked at hundreds of different accounts during the planning stages of the project and it quickly became apparent that there was a huge variation in the way firms utilised the channel; some used it for promotion, others relied on the service to share news and blogs.

The team behind the report chose to value certain account qualities over others. Twitter is a service for engagement and the decision was made to weigh the results in favour of firms who used the service for interaction and conversation. With this in mind, an equation was created to take into account the various factors, including followers, number of '@' mentions and tweet quantity.

With the equation in place, theEword social media team began to scour Twitter for accounts. We utilised personal knowledge, Twitter directories, personal lists and recommendations from friends and colleagues to produce a list of 300 firms and organisations. Details from each of these accounts were used and an overall score was determined for each Twitter profile.

The research produced some interesting results; we saw a complete variety of techniques, tactics and approaches to the service and each author had a different view on how to use Twitter. It was remarkable to observe the diversity across the Manchester Twittersphere, even across the top accounts in the same industry sectors.

It's been fascinating to examine the different voices across the professional community; each of the top accounts had their own personality and style.
We found that professional accounts didn't have to be limited to updates about the latest client wins or news posts. The channel offers companies the ability to connect with an audience on a very personal level. Hopefully, more organisations can begin to take advantage of it.

Browser Share Experiment: Internet Explorer

On Friday 25 June, I set myself a challenge: discover which web browser I am. To do this, I decided the best way was to replace my beloved Firefox as default browser for a bit. Each week, I'm going to test the main contenders - Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari (for PC) and Chrome. The reason I've include Firefox in this is because I want to see how it performs for me after using another browser for a week.


So all last week, it was my challenge to use the latest version of Internet Explorer. And what a challenge it’s been! Below are my main thoughts from each day.

Monday
I almost forgot about the challenge, until my Outlook reminded me that I was to start using Internet Explorer for a week! I’m frustrated to realise that my bookmarks aren’t in Internet Explorer, due to it not being my default browser. Then follows an exasperating ten minutes trying to figure out how to import them from Firefox into Internet Explorer via the Tools menu, before realising (i.e. Googling for an answer) that what I’m looking for is in the Favourites tab, under the title "Import and Export". I feel really silly for not noticing this sooner – but think "Shouldn’t this be easier to find?"

Tuesday
I don’t have much to say about Tuesday. Nothing’s gone wrong yet (aside from the bookmarks issue), but the browser does seem to be sluggish and I find it quite boring. I’m excited by the nice aesthetics and visual goodness, but the interface seems very bland.

Wednesday
Wow, this really is a slow browser. Every page seems to take twice as long to load on Internet Explorer than it ever did in Firefox. I’m deleting my cache and temporary files upon closing the browser as normal, so it can’t be that. I’ve also realised how unintuitive the interface is. Sure, I may be more used to the home icon being on the left in Firefox, but the placing in the right hand of the page, and not even on the first row, makes for a very confusing experience.

I must admit, though, that I did take a break from using Internet Explorer. I went back to Firefox – but only for one hour! I was trying to complete some coding for a new page and Internet Explorer’s 'Developer Tools' just didn’t make the grade, so I had to go back to Firefox for the brilliant Firebug. It’s much easier to use and much more accurate.

Thursday
Today, I really couldn’t be bothered using Internet Explorer. It’s the slowest browser I've ever used – I’m starting to remember why I switched from it in the first place! The one thing I do like is the grouped tabs. I particularly love the colours it assigns to different groups. I’m not sure if this is possible in other browsers, but it’s great for me as I usually have a load of tabs open at once. If this could be implemented in another browser, rather than in Internet Explorer, it would be a match made in heaven!

Friday
I gave up today. Internet Explorer just seemed to take the equivalent of an ice age to load a single, relatively small-sized page. After the first hour or so, I gave up and didn’t have the patience to stay on IE any longer. It was slowing me down, and Friday’s are always busy – so I wanted to get a move on!

Summary
I can summarise my experience with Internet Explorer in one word: slow. At times, it was impossible to use the browser as it repeatedly crashed, took several minutes to load a small-sized page and simply wouldn’t render some pages correctly. In the end, it started affecting my productivity levels because it was slowing me down to the point that I was waiting for the browser to work before I could carry on with my jobs.

So Internet Explorer definitely isn’t the browser for me. But Monday signals the beginning of a new week – and this week I’m starting to use Firefox again. I’m wondering how this will pan out...see you in a week’s time!

theEweekly Wrap - Social media day, YouTube, News International

Social media day

Manchester SEO and social media enthusiasts teamed up this week for the very first social media day. Organised by media goliath Mashable, the celebration saw individuals from nations across the globe get together and discuss topics and issues, surrounding sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Hyves, Fotolog and Vkontakte. The Manchester arm of the celebration, which was presented by SkyLab, was held on Deansgate and attended by social media experts from across the region. Indeed, the event itself was an educated affair with a number of speeches from the likes of the press officer responsible for the Manchester Airport Twitter account and the independent fashion stylist Martine Alexander. The evening also featured a live video link up with similar events in Portugal and the United States; one Portugese attendee tweeted during the cultural exchange: "We are talking with #smdaymcr [Social Media Day Manchester]. It's amazing how we interact with the world."

Top video today

YouTube continued its dominance of the online video world as ComScore announced the Google-owned site hit a record number of views during May. The site racked up 14.6 billion views during the month, netting 43 per cent of online videos seen on the internet over the period. American site Hulu came second during the study, claiming 3.5 per cent of the market share. Facebook racked up a 0.7 per cent slice of the video views. In related news, UK-company BP turned to YouTube in an attempt to soften the negative publicity from the recent Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Pacific Ocean. The live interview which was streamed on YouTube, featured the president and CEO of BP's Gulf Coast Restoration Organisation being asked questions selected from the CitizenTube section of the site. Previously, YouTube has featured live interviews with Barack Obama and streamed concerts of U2 and Alicia Keyes.

Read all about it

It's been a busy week in the internet news world as both Google and News International took steps to increase their online readership. Yesterday, Google announced that it would be making changes to the way users could access the news on the site, as it offered readers the opportunity to personalise their news streams, favouring certain sites over others. Meanwhile, News International, owners of The Times and The Sunday Times, launched their long-awaited paywall. The two newspapers are now asking users to cough up £1 per day to access news on the site, or alternatively, fork over £2 for a week's viewing. Despite reports that The Times' market share has fallen off a cliff because of its new policy, News International's Rebekah Brooks was in a confident mood. "The new sites showcase our award-winning journalism in a very visual way, giving readers exclusive content and interactivity so that they can get even more from the news," she said. "We believe the new sites offer real value and we look forward to continuing to invest and innovate for readers."