Morgan Stanley has just revealed last month’s Internet Trends Report which has some very intriguing statistics regarding Social Networking sites.
Here are some of the highlights from the 72 page document:
6 out of the TOP 10 Most visited sites on the Internet ARE Social Networking sites. YouTube, Facebook, Hi5, Live.com, MySpace and Wikipedia all made the list.
5 out of the 6 didn’t even make the list in 2005. Within 3 years our internet experience has been drastically changed by the introduction of social media, networking and sharing sites.
in 2008 YouTube has surpassed Google and Yahoo in number of Page Views
Facebook has grown by 305% - largely in part to it’s ’stickiness’, open application platform, and recent open invitation strategy.
Top 5 Facebook Applications are: Superwall, Top Friends, FunWall, SuperPoke and Movies.
Top 5 Searches according to Google Zeitegist: iPhone, Badoo, Facebook, Daily Motion & Webkinz.
Amazon.com is still the Largest Online Retailer
Internet Advertising spend is up 26% making it the biggest advertising mover.
80% of Internet Users deem the internet as an important source of information, where as radio and newspaper only received 63% importance.
View the full Morgan Stanley Internet Trend Report:
While we’ve remarked before that Google is blind, it turns out that the search behemoth is not satisfied with this handicap and foresees a future where the engine is able to algorithmically ascertain an images identity based on similar images in its database. Freaky, huh?
While there are a few jabs at how “SEOs” will need to begin optimizing graphically optimizing images, the further implications are really much more sophisticated than what we expect from traditional search. After all, it’s only a few leaps from being able to algorithmically understand images to being able to do the same for videos, and tapping into the vast resources of images on the web that are currently NOT optimized for search opens up some really interesting doors.
Does it mean anything to you now? Not really. Just prepare to be embarrassed when your alt text bears no resemblance to the image it portrays… and Google gets smart enough to catch you!
This week, we explore an issue of grave importance — should you update your website by yourself or not? While Fred is proud to sport the DIY attitude, the quality of the final product is what drives Chrystie to suggest you get it done the right way.
Last week, I wrote a blog post about Twitter, the fast growing microblogging platform that allows users to blog 140 character ‘tweets’ to their closest friends, followers and yes, even strangers. Twitter, although, originally created to keep up with what your friends are up to, has quickly become an easy way for companies to monitor their reputation online.
Zappos.com, one of the largest online shoe merchants, known for its outstanding customer service and amazingly large selection of shoes (personal experience) has recently taken to Twitter. They have set up a Twitter feed page on their site which follows online mentions about the company and ‘tweets’ made by their employees.
Zappos.com has been the online sweetheart of many bloggers. With amazing customer service stories like, I Heart Zappos, this one and one more, it’s hard to NOT love them. Zappos.com did not set out to win over bloggers, they set out to win over their customers…and some of them just so happened to be bloggers. With one flower bouquet, Zappos.com managed to win over thousands of bloggers and fans. According to Yahoo Site Explorerr the “I Heart Zappos” post currently has close to 2,000 inbound links! Talk about free publicity!
As a company committed to customer service, it is a smart move for Zappos to embrace Twitter. Following their company’s brand online will help them pro-actively remedy any negative mentions online and humanize the company by following their employee’s tweets.
SEO Vision is produced by Hall Web Services, a Maine web development firm and Sage Software Preferred Vendor that helps small to mid-sized businesses achieve their goals online.
SEO Vision focuses on web issues of importance to business owners and deconstructs the SEO industry to understandable terms.
SEO Audio is our short-and-sweet podcast that answers your burning questions about SEO and web marketing, released every Friday morning.
