11 Out Of 10 Blog

The London riots are into its third night and spreading across UK cities such as, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol and Nottingham like a disease. But how did it get so out of control?

What began as a rioting protest in Tottenham, North London after a police shooting on Thursday 4^th August, killing Mark Duggan. Social Media websites such as Facebook and Twitter have been strongly accused of spurring these riots into what can only be described by the nation as ‘Anarchy’. A Facebook page was created to remember the victim ‘R.I.P. Mark Duggan’, but certain posts were alerted.

“Please upload any pictures or video’s you may have from tonight in Tottenham. Share it with people to send the message out as to why this has blown into a riot.”

Twitter feeds began to publicly display where the rioters were heading next, whilst uploading photos and videos of looting and burning police cars. Could Twitter have been a warning to the public and police about these unsociable attacks on the Capital?

With the activity on Twitter being publically displayed, Blackberry Messenger became the popular option to communicate between rioters.  One BBM reading:

“Everyone from all sides of London meet up at the heart of London (central) OXFORD CIRCUS!!, Bare SHOPS are gonna get smashed up so come get some (free stuff!!!)…… Dead the ends and colour war for now so if you see a brother… SALUT! if you see a fed… SHOOT!

Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Steve Kavangh argued that, Twitter held the primary blame for organising levels of ‘greed and criminality’.

With Twitter being blamed for this ‘war zone’, Scotland Yard tweeted that, over the next 24 hours, 13,000 police officers will be on duty in London. Controversial?

Editing tweets on Twitter is as serious as the recent phone hacking. One tweet read –

AshleysAR ‘I hear Tottenham’s going coco-bananas right now. Watch me roll’, after a top UK Newspaper had edited it, published by the BBC. It should have read -

‘I hear Tottenham’s going coco-bananas right now. Watch me roll up with a spud gun :/’. So how was Twitter to blame? It wasn’t. It was misleading. According to the BBC, experts fear the extent to which technology is to blame may have been overstated.

In fact, Twitter and Facebook has brought the nation together in supporting the victims and wanting to put a stop this indecent mayhem #prayforlondon #staysafe. Twitter account @riotcleanup has attracted over 18,000 followers and aiding to coordinate cleanups around the badly hit London areas. Other Twitter users were using the #riotcleanup to arrange meet ups and help clean the areas surrounding their homes. There is little evidence to suggest that these out of control riots were orchestrated by on Social Media public feeds.

The Metropolitan Police have uploaded recent photos from the London riot onto Flickr in an attempt to identify looters.

The public have been advised to contact the police or Crimestoppers if they know of anyone rioting on the streets, 0800 555 111.

Social Media is becoming more and more a part of day to day life. This is true for Social Media within business. Businesses are now finding more and more ways to make social media work for them.

Over the next 10 blog posts we will outline what we believe are the top 10 social media networks for businesses (in no particular order).
For any questions about how you can use social media for your business feel free to get in touch with us- marketing@11outof10.com

1. WordPress

2. Twitter

3. Technorati

4. Skype

5. LinkedIn

6. Foursquare

7. Flickr

8. Facebook

9. Delicious

10. Digg

Facebook is a completely different social network compared to Digg and delicious.
Facebook is based around social interaction between users. Digg and delicious will both work and be functional without interacting with other users, Facebook on the however is pointless without interaction.
Facebook allows users to create a personal profile that they can use to represent themselves by adding their interests and pictures. Users can then add other Facebook users as friends and exchange messages, share pictures and videos, instant message and more.
Groups and ‘fanpages’ can also be joined to talk to and show support of a cause, business or charity.
Facebook also provides an advertising service, Facebook Ads, that allows businesses to advertise to their chosen demographic based on Age, Education, location and other factors.

Facebook is a social media that businesses are starting to invest in heavily as it can bring many advantages.
Firstly, Facebook is free; this means all of the advantages that it brings only have to be paid for in terms of hours spent.
The main advantage for a business using Facebook is that if they create a Facebook fan page for their business it allows the fans to ‘like’ and join their network. This means the business can keep them updated with any relevant news and can communicate with the user easily and quickly. Facebook fan pages are also a great way to offer support. Users may feel that the process to email a company or get in touch by phone is too much hassle and might prefer to do it simply over Facebook.
Facebook also allows business to communicate more informally with their customers. A Facebook user won’t go onto Facebook to communicate formally with a business and will prefer to be spoke to on a more personal level.

Our tips for using Facebook successfully for your business is to ensure that you are engaging the user rather than just using it as a sales pitch. Use your Facebook fan page to ask questions and promote discussion and users will grow to trust and like your brand.

Growing trends in Social Media have prompted businesses to actively join social networks in an attempt to reach their customers and increase sales. As many companies have found it isn’t easy to make money from social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube if you don’t have a strong foundation and clear strategy. Most companies have joined the social media revolution without a clear strategy and goals for their campaigns.

A development in social media marketing will allow brands to market their products effectively on social media platforms with tangible results, this is called Social Commerce.
Social Commerce is the adaption of e-commerce functionality to social media platforms that encourages social interactions and sharing of online products or services.

The main benefits of making your products available on social media platforms are:

• Revenue generation – customer acquisition and customer retention.
• Product Development – develop your brand, products and services to your customers needs.
• Relative low cost – there is a relative low cost attached to social networking compared to the more conventional marketing methods.
• Gain Feedback – evaluate the success of services, marketing campaigns and promotions through poll’s and surveys.
• Identify brand advocates – find people who promote your brand or products online and reward them.
• Reputation management – protect and develop your brand reputation.
• Create a community – you can gather people who are interested in your brand, industry, etc.
• Sharing is caring – if customers are happy with your product or service they can share them with their own social network across many platforms.

Facebook is the strongest platform for social commerce growth at this stage due to its popularity and flexibility for developers. 11 Out Of 10 have developed a new innovation with e-commerce clients called a “Facebook Shop” that has proved popular for brands such as Faith in Nature. As you can see below the products are clearly displayed for the user to buy and share products with their network.

As technology continues to advance at an accelerated rate and social media platforms become more flexible and popular social commerce will undoubtedly grow as non threatening purchasing environment for on line consumers.