AN ONLINE FRIEND ON FACEBOOK has just invited me to become a fan of “IPad Market Research – Test And Keep on Facebook”. I went to the page and saw:
The text reads:
You are invited to test a new Apple iPad! Because of the big hype around the iPad, several companies are giving away iPads for review purposes as soon as they are available.
Yes, you really can get a new iPad, but only for a limited time, so be sure to enter right now!
It’s quick and easy, just follow these 3 simple steps :
Step 1: Become a Fan. Click the button below and Step 2 will be revealed.
Out of curiosity, I clicked on “Become a Fan” and steps 2 and 3 were shown:
A man saw a photo of himself posted on the city Police Department’s Facebook fan site in connection with a robbery he didn’t commit. He went to the police station to correct the problem, and the information he gave police led to the arrest of a 30-year-old man police said they believe is the real robber. — HomeTownAnnapolis.com, 18 October 2009
A 26-year-old fugitive was caught in Cancun, Mexico after he told his Facebook friends, including a former Justice Department official, that he was living in paradise there. — The Guardian, 14 October 2009
A 33-year-old clubber who attacked a man with a bottle has been jailed Portsmouth, UK, after his victim tracked him down using the Facebook social networking site. — BBC News, 08 October 2009
A 26-year-old burglar was caught in Rome, Italy because he logged onto Facebook during the break-in. — Telegraph, 03 October 2009
A 19-year-old Pennsylvania man was arraigned on a charge of daytime robbery in Berkeley County, USA because he used the victim’s computer to check his Facebook status during the robbery. — The Journal, 16 September 2009
[Feb 2010 update]: The Singapore Police Force has a Police Appeal photo album entitled “Police Appeal: Do you know these people?” on Facebook. The photos were apparently added about nine months ago!
What about other social media?
“Boston police using Twitter and Facebook to track down bike thieves” — Mashable, 20th July 2009
“The next time you think about breaking and entering, you might want to consider that police departments are now savvy to social media and will use the power and reach of the web to catch you… the Los Angeles Police Department has just released surveillance video from a break-in that took place at Lindsay Lohan’s Hollywood Hills home on Sunday morning. Their method of conveyance— YouTube.” — Mashable, 26th August 2009
FACEBOOK HAS REPLACED FOX INTERACTIVE, owners of increasingly untrendy MySpace, at position 5 in ComScore’s MediaMatrix Top 50 U.S. Web Properties list. The top 4 is still the same as last year (see 2008 chart below) : Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, said ReadWriteWeb.
THE BRANDS MOST ENGAGED IN SOCIAL MEDIA are also experiencing higher financial success rates than those of their non-engaged peers, according to a new study released by enterprise wiki provider Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group. ReadWriteWeb reports:
To determine this relationship, the study focused on 100 companies from the 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands survey and the various social media platforms they used like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, wikis, and forums… After examining the companies and their social media activity levels, the brands were ranked on an “engagement scale” where scores ranged from a high of 127 to a low of 1. Those brands that were the most engaged saw their revenue grow over the past year by 18% while the least engaged brands saw losses of negative 6%.
The study grouped the brands into one of four engagement profiles that related to the number of channels they’re involved in and how deep that involvement is. At the top of the list are “mavens,” the brands heavily engaged in seven or more social media channels – like Starbucks and Dell, for instance. “Butterflies” are like wannabe “mavens,” and are also engaged in seven or more channels but are spread too thin, investing in some channels more so than others. “Selectives” focus on six or fewer channels but engage customers deeply in the ones they’ve chosen. Finally, there are “wallflowers,” or brands engaged in six or fewer channels with below-average engagement; these include companies like McDonalds and BP.
