KakaoTalk vs Line

Koreans say ‘KakaoTalk me’ instead ‘Text me’. This phenomenon shows how KakaoTalk is actively used by Koreans. KakaoTalk has over reached a billion daily messages! The number of messages delivered on KakaoTalk is exponentially increased over the past year. The number of message amount sent over KakaoTalk per minute is equivalent to the number of Google search created and the number of stories created on Newsfeed of Facebook each minute. Read More 

While KakaoTalk is dominating Korea, Line is rapidly conquering foreign countries. Line currently retains a large number of users in Europe which became its driving force of the growth. Moreover, Line reported on January 27^th that the number of users is increased by 5 million within a month after it reached 10 million downloads. Read More

카카오톡, 하루 메시지 전송 10억건 돌파 vs. 네이버 `라인` 카카오톡 아성 깰 수 있을까

요즘은 ‘문자해’라는 말 대신 ‘카톡해’라는 말을 한다고 하죠. 카카오톡의 위력이 정말 대단한데요. 최근 하루 메시지 전송 건수가 무려 10억건을 돌파했다고 합니다.

카카오톡이 국내에서 입지를 굳건히 하고 있을 때, NHN의 모바일 메신저 ‘라인’은 해외 사용자 증가로 급성장하면서 국내 1위 업체 카카오톡의 아성을 넘보고 있습니다.

NHN은 라인이 유럽 등 해외 사용자수의 급증으로 지난해 12월25일 1000만 다운로드를 돌파한지 한 달 만에 사용자 수가 500만명이나 늘었다고 27일 밝혔습니다.

Social Trend – Social TV, Social Game, LB Social Shopping

What’s hot trend in social media? Let’s look into latest news in social TV, social game, and LB social shopping.

1.     ‘Watch, Talk, and Share’ through Social TV

The idea of ‘TV+SNS = Social TV’ is catching users’ eyes and rising as a hot trend in social media. KTH launched ‘TV Talkers’ which allows sharing audiences’ opinions on the same program they are watching through smartphones. Also it allows app users to recommend TV programs each other to make their opinions are reflected on the program ratings. Read More

 2.     Naver, intensifying its business on social game by providing ‘App player’

Naver has launched an ‘App player’ which integrates the management system for social games. This benefits users to play with their friends more easily because it does not require the boding on Naver blog or Me2day between the players. Read More

 3.     NHN, launching a LB social shopping

NHN has announced that they are planning to launch a social shopping business with location based system in the first year of 2012. Currently many social commerce sites provide LB coupons to users. It is expected that NHN’s new business would go into a battle against social commerce sites. Read More

소셜 트렌드 – 소셜 티비, 소셜 게임, 그리고 위치기반 소셜 쇼핑

요즘 각광받고 있는 소셜 트렌드인 소셜 티비, 소셜 게임 그리고 위치기반 소셜 쇼핑에 대해 알아봅시다. .

1.    ″보고 말하고 평한다″…2012년 소셜TV 앱이 뜬다

종편 출범으로 지상파와 케이블TV 등의 시청률 경쟁이 더욱 거세진 가운데, TV와 SNS가 접목된 앱들이 주목을 받고 있습니다. 그 중 KTH가 최초로 선보인 ‘TV 토커스’는 같은 채널을 보고 있는 시청자들이 스마트폰을 통해 의견을 제시하고 추천글을 올리며 소통하는 앱인데요. 이전의 TV 앱이 방송을 볼 수 있게 하는데 그쳤다면 TV 토커스는 SNS를 통해 시청자들이 직접 시청률 집계에 자신들의 의사를 반영할 수 있다고 합니다.

2.    네이버 `소셜 게임` 강화…소셜 앱 통합관리 서비스

네이버가 소셜 게임을 통합 관리할 수 있는 앱 플레이어 서비스를 소셜 앱스에 추가하였는데요. 블로그나 미투데이를 통해 친구를 맺지 않더라도 친구 초대를 통해 쉽게 게임을 즐길 수 있다는 장점이 있다고 합니다.

3.    NHN, `위치기반 소셜쇼핑` 사업 나선다

NHN이 이르면 상반기 위치기반 서비스를 이용한 소셜쇼핑 사업을 전개할 전망이라고 합니다. 현재 소셜커머스 업체들이 위치기반 쿠폰 서비스를 이미 제공하고 있어 NHN의 새로운 사업은 소셜커머스 업체들과 경쟁하게 될 것으로 보입니다.

Daum provides a real time Twitter people rankings

Daum Communications provided a real time Twitter people rankings. This ranking is based on the frequency of mentions people talked on Twitter. Now, about 5.4 million Korean Twitter users are allowed to check who is the man of the moment. Read More

 다음, ‘실시간 트위터 인물 검색‘ 서비스 시작

다음커뮤니케이션이 트위터에서 많이 회자되는 인물의 순위를 실시간으로 확인할 수 있도록 ‘실시간 트위터 인물 검색’ 서비스를 시작합니다. 트위터 이용자들은 544만명의 회원들 중 누가 화제가 되고 있는지 실시간으로 확인이 가능해졌네요.

Trust SNS? Yes (43%) vs No (40%)

It is reported that 43% of the participants answered they would trust information on SNS whereas other 40% says ‘No’ to the question. Nonetheless, it is interesting the portion of young answerers have tendency to trust more SNS than baby boomers. In the age of 19 to 29, the portion of positive answers on the question was 47.7% which was 10% higher than the negative answers. This phenomenon was similarly showed in the age of 30s. In contrast, the negative answers on the question in the age of 50s and 60s were 10% higher than the positive answers. Read More

“SNS 신뢰한다” 43% vs. “안한다” 40%

TV와 소셜미디어의 결합을 통해 소비자의 시청 행태도 변화하고 있습니다. 최근 한 조사에 따르면, 한국 소비자의 55%는 외출시 모바일 기기를 통해 TV를 시청하며, 그 중 71%는 스마트폰으로 TV를 시청한다고 합니다. 이는 16개의 조사 대상국 가운데 가장 높은 비율입니다. 또한 응답자 중 76%가 ‘소셜TV’를 시청하면서 소셜 플랫폼을 통해 비슷한 관심사를 가진 다른 시청자들과 의견을 교환하는 것으로 나타났습니다.

www.facebook.com/OgilvyPRSeoul

Their latest initiative which saw them promote the hashtag #McDStories began with promise; the following tweet was one of the first that McDonald’s posted yet unfortunately this tweet wasn’t the direction some consumers wanted to take the conversation in:

“Meet some of the hard-working people dedicated to providing McDs with quality food every day #McDStories http://t.co/BoNIwRJS,”

Let’s consider the implications of any hashtag for McDonald’s. They’re one of the largest brands in the world, yet it seems their social media team did not consider that the hashtag would start to trend. This is a perfect example of a hashtag that becomes detrimental to a brand when it starts trending, as it is then seen by Twitter users who don’t follow the brand; it is then seen by those who just want to add their own two cents worth of vitriol. And McDonald’s certainly has some passionate detractors amongst the Twitter community, as they soon found out:

“My girlfriend ate McD’s breakfast for the 1st time in forever last Sun & barfed it all up! Guess her stomach wasn’t lovin’ it. #McDstories”

“#McDstories Have you ever seen how this #FastFood is made? It should be illegal to call it #Food bc its #F&$%kingDisgusting”

“One time I walked into McDonald’s and I could smell Type 2 diabetes floating in the air and I threw up #McDStories”

You’ll probably read all about it from a variety of sources today but it’s a simple lesson for brands that have a controversial product or a polarised audience within their market – think before you Tweet.

I’ve just come back from six glorious weeks tripping around South America. I learned a few things whilst I was there, including:

1. The coffee is terrible
2. You must always carry your own stash of toilet paper and hand sanitiser with you
3. A standard shot in South America  is equal to five standard shots back home so perhaps that third Caipirinha is not a good idea
4. Turns out guinea pigs are not pets, they’re food, and apparently very tasty (I cannot confirm this)
5. There is free WiFi everywhere and I mean everywhere.

As soon as I landed back home my nostrils flared, seeking out the smell of Campos Coffee (the best in my humble opinion), and my fingers tapped away excitedly looking for the free WiFi connection, needless to say, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

I was spoiled in South America, cafes, bars, restaurants, airports, retail stores, department stores, hotels, lifts…everywhere had WiFi and I was “loving it sick” (that’s what all the Gen-Y’ers say).

Since being home, I have found the free WiFi severely lacking. I have found connections which suck you in with the absence of a padlock, only to be disappointed when a login screen appears prompting your credit card details.

C’mon Aussie, c’mon, really?  Why are we so behind the rest of the world? We are the most Facebook addicted country in the world, we create and consume rich content via social channels all. day. long. We look to our peers and those who have gone before us for tips and recommendations on where to go, what to do, what to eat, what to buy – everything!

Why don’t Aussie businesses get with the program and become the enabler, allowing consumers to tell your stories for you in real time and if Kelis’ milkshakes can bring more boys to her yard, I dare say say free WiFi could bring more customers to your tills.

Here’s three reasons I think free WiFi is the nuts:

-          Content creation and sharing

Locals, travellers, drifters,  whoever, all creating and sharing content on the spot in your location about their experiences with you, your products, your brand. If you have a good offering then imagine the possibilities.

Whilst I was on the trot  I uploaded photos of food, wine, experiences and special moments, all tagged with the location of the bar, cafes, restaurant and shoe shop -  you name it. I had likes, comments, shares, people vowing to book their next holiday to South America, all because of my content.

Checking in at Barzin in Rio De Janiero

Champers at La Cabana in Buenos Aires

-          Entertainment value

This is particularly useful for women who drag their partners shopping. One day,  I subjected my hubby to nine hours of shopping with only two toilet breaks and lunch on the run. The only reason, and I mean the ONLY reason, he was still talking to me at the end of the day was because in every single shop he could sit down and surf the net whilst I surfed the clothes racks.

Most importantly, he was also able to add value to my experience by checking  the conversion rate in real time, searching for other stores nearby who might have a better sale price and planning the quickest route to the next shopping precinct.

Putting my purchasing out to vote in real time. Facebook says - yes! Hawt!

Messages of support came flooding in...

-          Information on the go

Everything  at your fingertips  – real time recommendations on bars and restaurants, shopping gems hidden away in the back streets, tips and tricks from other travellers,  where to go, what to see, how to get there! We consumed this information via free WiFi and it helped shape each day making our experiences spontaneous, rich and exciting!

These are just some of the reasons I was very grateful for the free WiFi everywhere, it encouraged me to check in, take pictures and share, post status updates, tweet, comment about all the wonderful places we went to and the experiences we had. It kept my husband occupied whilst I spent his money. It kept me entertained whilst waiting for delayed flights and it kept us connected locally and globally, taking everyone with us on our amazing travels.

Sharing a Pisco Sour and the view from Rio Serrano Hotel in Patagonia, with all my social networks.

All my Facebook friends and Twitter followers came to Tango Porteno with us!

Now imagine if Aussie businesses offered this service to those to tourists who don’t have a local connection;  to students who are too skint for a decent data plan; to those looking for a trendy café for business meetings; to shopping addicts who need the support of an unwilling stylist?

How much content would be created and shared about you and your brand? How many real time recommendations would be generated?  How much more information would hit the airwaves? How much more money would this bring your business?

How many more questions can I ask in this post?

Just one,  what’s it worth to you?  Food for thought…

#winning

This a map of all the places in Sydney offering free WiFi, I cannot confirm whether or not it is reliable.

So, we asked ourselves the question whether a conversation about social media would be possible without mentioning Facebook, Twitter or Weibo. As we have shown in our training on Friday, November 25, here in Hong Kong, the answer is most definitely ‘yes’. In the past 12 or so months we witnessed the emergence of a whole battalion of new social media platforms that are set to further drive the revolution that Facebook and Co once unleashed. Names like Tumblr, Instagram, Foodspotting and Foursquare (granted, this one isn’t exactly a newcomer anymore, but still emerging) will certainly play an increasingly important role in our world of social media marketing communications. A quick look at the stats is quite telling:

This past August, Techcrunch reported that Instagram had already seen the upload of 150 M pictures since its inception in 2010 – that’s 150 M pictures in about nine months. Remember Flickr? It took them two years to hit 100 M pictures on their platform. And don’t forget that Instagram is still only available on iOS.

Tumblr’s case is similar. Quantcast data shows that Tumblr is now seeing as many views in a day as they were in a month about 2.5 years ago. 250 M pageviews in all of July 2009 and again on May 16, 2011.

The significant influence of these platforms isn’t restricted to the numbers, however. They are also changing the rules of the marketing game.

When Web 2.0 and social media first entered the common parlance of marketing folk, they were heralded as a revolutionary shift of power from brands to consumers. Now, however, more often than not we see brands broadcasting the same old messages in the same old way, just on new platforms. But surely, some (and actually more and more) are getting it right. So, we can all be confident that this new vigor instilled into the social media revolution by these emerging platforms will help a couple of more brands to lift their marketing communications efforts onto a new level. A great case in point is Burberry. What this brand does on Instagram is a glimpse at what the future of our industry might look like. Burberry has freed itself from the shackles of the ‘campaign’ and is exercising true consumer engagement on a long term basis. This is what social media is all about. The shift from the brand to the consumer meant that brands were to become more accessible, less distant and more human. But who wants to interact with someone on a campaign-basis every 3 or so months? Consumers want to interact with their brands whenever THEY want to, on their terms. In Burberry’s case, they now can. Updating information almost in real-time, the British luxury fashion house gives users the chance to get a glimpse behind the polished scenes. And not just virtually. Geo-tagging even gives diehard fans the chance to check the places of action out personally. ­

Yes, users can certainly interact with brands on their Facebook pages. But in many cases, we witness too much distance between a brand and its fans. If only very carefully crafted posts are allowed to make it onto the main page, it’s obvious that the brand is still not comfortable with letting go of its control. What Burberry is able to convey on Instagam is a genuine feeling of mutual affection between brand and consumer. It’s less polished, and because of that, more human. And that’s what marketing communications should be based on in the end: human communication.

Sundew, dynamic social Q&A service that is based on your trusted friend network Now, you can ask questions through your mobile app and get answers right away. SK Planet, a new platform subsidiary of Korea’s top mobile carrier, launched a mobile Q&A application ‘Sundew’. It provides honest, reliable answers, fast from your friends who really know you. It helps you get the answers in real time from trusted sources. Users can ask, forward, or answer questions anywhere in the world with their mobile. ’Sundew’ is similar to ‘Intelligence’ of Naver and ‘Wikipedia’ that it constructs database on questions and answers. However, it is optimized for mobile environment.

Now you might wonder why the app is named as ‘sundew’. Sundew is an insect eating plant which is the same as a venus flytrap. Likewise once a question is posted on Sundew, it cannot be removed from Sundew friends network until gets answered. Read more

SK플래닛, 내달 ‘모바일 소셜 Q&A’ 앱 출시 이제 모바일을 통해 자신이 궁금한 것을 묻고 답하는 ‘모바일 소셜 Q&A’을 즐길 수 있습니다. 모바일을 통해 전 세계인을 대상으로 질문과 답변을 할 수 있다는 데서 기존의 ‘지식인’과는 차별화를 할 것으로 보입니다.

Mobile territory war begins with social games The Korean graphic technology is going in advance. Now it is possible to embody high resolution graphic games on social platforms. Thus existing games are moving their platforms to social. One of the successful case was ‘ Rule the Sky’ which has more than 200,000 daily users. ’Rule the sky’ contains high resolution graphic features which attract users. In addition, subject matters to the social games are changing. For instance, first-person shooter(FPS) games or role playing games (RPG) are now implemented on social platforms. ‘Uberstrike’ from CrazyFish was implemented in 3D as the first domestic social game on Cyworld app store.  Read more

SK컴즈 등 소셜게임 강화…모바일 영토 전쟁 시작됐다 웹에서 고품질의 그래픽을 처리하는 기술이 발전하면서 RPG, FPS등의 고용량 그래픽 게임들이 소셜 플랫폼에서도 가능해졌습니다. 따라서 게임 소재도 대작들로 다변화되고 있습니다. 이에 국내에서 웹 기반 소셜게임 플랫폼 싸이월드 앱스토어를 가장 먼저 구축한 SK커뮤니케이 션즈도 모바일 게임 강화에 나섰다고 합니다.

LG U+ launched fashion SNS ‘Cosmostyle’ LG U+ launched a fashion SNS ‘Cosmostyle’ collaborating with the first fashion magazine, Cosmopolitan. Users of Cosmostyle can share their fashion style as well as they can see the realtime fashion trend. It is also linked to facebook and twitter so that users can share the pictures they like on other SNS. It is now free to download at App store, Android market and T-store. Read more

LG유플러스, 패션전문 SNS ‘코스모스타일’ 출시 LG유플러스가 패션 잡지 ‘코스모폴리탄’과 함께 패션 전문 소셜네트워킹서비스(SNS)인 ‘코스모스타일’을 출시한다고 하네요. 앞으로 자신만의 패션 스타일에 대해 친구들과 더욱더 빠르게 공유할수 있겠네요~!

Intensive investment on mobile, cloud, and social is expected next year It is predicted that Korean corporations would intensively invest their budget into IT field. The investment amount is estimated as 50 billion dollars and the most of the budget would be spent on Cloud computing, mobile and SNS. According to Gartner, information technology research and advisory company, services and items related to IT would increase its sales by 8% in Asia Pacific countries in 2012.  Read more

“내년 국내기업 IT지출 50조원 전망”…모바일·클라우드·소셜 투자 집중 내년에 국내 기업이 정보기술(IT)에 투자할 금액은 약 50조원에 이를 것으로 전망됩니다. 또한 투자 대부분은 클라우드 컴퓨팅과 모바일, 소셜네트워크서비스(SNS) 등에 집중될 것으로 예상됩니다. 시장조사기관인 가트너는 아태지역 2012년 엔터프라이즈 IT 관련 제품 및 서비스 지출이 전년 대비 8% 증가할 것이라고 전망했습니다.

www.facebook.com/OgilvyPRSeoul

I have the utmost respect for Paul, but strongly disagree with his post. Titled “Social Media Overload”, he states that:

“for those using several [social media] services it’s becoming a tiresome chore”.

“For social media services the key measures of how much time users spend on the site is becoming a game of diminishing returns, people have only so much time in the day or so much inclination to spend a large chunk of their free time online.”

“Social media services are going to have to show some value for the investment in time and the privacy costs incurred by business users, it may well be that many just don’t offer a good enough deal.”

While I think it’s fair that small businesses may be facing some difficulty trying to justify spending time, money and resource on social media, I think it’s much less because “it’s a tiresome chore” – I think they’re just not clear about WHY they’re on social.

I’ve referenced this chart before, but it most clearly reveals just how powerful social media can be on purchase intent. With online reviews second only to word of mouth in purchase influence, there’s a huge opportunity for small business to use social media to build relationships with their customers, get feedback from advocates and detractors, hold special sales for their brand advocates, generate sales leads, manage their reputation, establish themselves as thought leaders, and the list goes on.

They just need to know what they want out of it. Then they need a strategy. Take Shoes of Prey, for example. A start-up business by Michael Fox, Jodie Fox, Mike Knapp and Mark Capps, their website 22Michaels is a “diary of [their] adventures, successes, failures and everything we learn as we attempt to start a business or two”, they have used social media to establish themselves as thought leaders in the space. Smart Company has voted them one of Australia’s 25 top business blogs for two years runing, one of Australia’s top 10 online retailers, 2010′s Hot 30 Under 30, and attended an online retail forum with the Australian government to showcase how smaller business can harness the internet.

Shoes of Prey is an e-retailer that sells custom-made shoes, and they have used their website to ask their consumers what they think of their latest online shoe designer, providing them with unique intelligence around purchase intent as a result of the designer, intent to purchase, ease-of-use and general feedback, which will (presumably)  be taken into consideration for future edits and improvements on the site.

Other small businesses can just look to the current landscape to work out what best practice looks like, what they need for their business, and how to get there. Australian examples include Appliances Online, which has one of the largest and most engaged Facebook pages nationally; Shoes of Prey; Big Brown Box – a retailer with a great Facebook page; 65 degrees – a Melbourne based cafe that has established itself as the 56th most influential food Twitterer in Australia; and more that crop up every day.

In the early days of social media, a cliched adage was that businesses should be on social media because “your customers are going to be talking about you anyway – don’t you at least want to know what they’re saying?” (Channelship has a great article that says pretty much the same thing, titled “If Brands Don’t Listen, Your Facebook Friends Will” by the legendary Brian Solis).

Social media has brought companies and customers closer than ever, and have broken down the walls of communication between the two entities. It’s made companies more approachable, vulnerable and accountable – and has empowered customers to be honest about their experiences, whether positive or negative. Social media allows businesses the “right of response”, allowing them to amplify their customers positive experiences, and solve their negative ones.

And let’s not forget the most obvious avenue for social media use by small business – customer service excellence.

Although Paul says that “people have only so much time in the day or so much inclination to spend a large chunk of their free time online… the value proposition becomes less compelling”, I think the main issue lies more with available resources for small business than a less compelling value proposition.

The case has been made for the value of social media – not to mention the added benefit of how social media marketing is a scaleable effort, depending on the available resources, both in time and money – now it’s just up to businesses to decide how they want to use it.

Don’t start up a Facebook page with weekly competitions and promising customer service support unless you have a community manager that can support that activity. Don’t set up a Twitter account encouraging customer feedback and asking engagement questions if you don’t have the resource available to respond to brand advocates and detractors. Don’t set up a corporate blog that gets updated once every other month.

Look at your business goals and come up with a strategy. Focus on the platforms you need to be on to achieve those goals, and plan on a timeline the tactics you’ll use to get there. Just like any other business marketing strategy, social media requires time, dedication and discipline – but this doesn’t mean that it needs to consume more resource than is allocated.

What do you think? Does social media have a place in your business – and where?

I couldn’t agree more. Now there are probably a handful of people out there who should NOT be on Twitter solely because of what comes out of their mouths on any given day – getting on Twitter would equate to a career limiting move! But those people should probably not be in PR.

And “being on Twitter” doesn’t have to mean Tweeting five times a minute, either. Some of the most interesting people who I follow only Tweet a handful of times a week but they’re usually sharing a great insight or pointing out a must-read article. And that’s OK.

If you’re in public relations, here are five reasons you should be on Twitter:

1. Media Are There: As of two years ago, there were more than 500 Australian journalists on Twitter and if you follow your favourite journo closely you’ll often find them asking for sources or story ideas. If you’re proactively looking for opportunities to get media coverage for your client Twitter is a smart place to be as you’ll find those opportunities and develop better relationships with journalists. All part of the core job requirements of any PR pro.

2. Trains You to Move Faster: PR in general moves fast. The thing I love most about Twitter is that it gets you in the habit of moving and creating content even faster. What’s trending one minute is yesterday’s news the next minute. In order to give clients great counsel and be one step ahead, we need to be on top of what’s trending on Twitter whether it’s to provide them with something to retweet, to share an insight on something that’s trending in the media or to inspire them to start participating as well.

3. Better Manage a Crisis: When I spoke at a travel industry conference in Taipei last year, I woke up to a massive rumbling at 6AM and saw my hotel room literally move two feet in either direction. It turned out to be my first earth quake – a 6.5. The first thing I did was went to search.twitter.com and looked for “earthquake” and “Taipei” – nothing. Checked CNN – nothing. Because there had been nothing on Twitter I half believed that it couldn’t have been an earthquake. Today Twitter is the first place media and consumers turn when there’s an issue – whether its’ a product recall or massive natural disaster. If your client or your brand is the issue then you need to be there in the conversation and getting your side of the message out – otherwise no one will believe you!

4. Cross-Business Collaboration:  The great thing about Twitter is that it serves a number of cross-business functions and gives PR an opportunity to use social media to improve ROI across the enterprise. For example, you might engage the HR department to use Twitter to recruit the next wave of talent. It might give you an opportunity to engage customer service to better manage customer feedback and reduce the burden on more expensive call centres. Or you might have a chat to the head of product innovation and talk about how to listen to what customers “wished” they could get from your brand.

5. Find a New Gig: We are hiring for a digital strategist and last Friday I was given what was billed to be a great CV by a recruiter. Even before opening the CV, the very first thing I looked at was her Twitter account which contained zero Tweets or even a profile picture. While she had to go into the “no” basket, you’ll position yourself well by at least being present on Twitter and if you follow hash tags like #jobs you might even spot an opportunity or two for yourself. (PS – interested? DM me for details).

Lastly, being on Twitter will allow you to explain what the hell a “hashtag” is – and how to use it an event. And if you want to follow a great hashtag check out PRIA’s PR Directions conference hash tag at #PRDir!

What do you think? Are there other reasons to be… or not to be… on Twitter.

The Cantonese term derived for the action of “not honoring the agreed appointment” is specifically phrased “Fong Fei Kei” (direct translation: Let the Airplane Go). Acts of this “Fong Fei Kei” (FFK) culture is often practiced in some Asian Societies; that it has become an expected behavior.

Two brothers here in Malaysia, Eugene Ooi and Eu Veng Ooi have decided to capitalize on this less accepted norm of social conduct by creating a ticket matching service through the power of Twitter and a site cleverly created under the URL http://ffk.me.

All tickets are submitted by registered users of the site and auctioned off to interested buyers. Twitter fits perfectly into the system with its real time abilities to alert followers of the Twitter account @fongfeikei of tickets that are up for grabs.

Users may also tweet @fongfeikei to inquire for specific tickets which will be RT-ed to other followers. Or to sell you tickets/ promote your events.

At least through this service, there is some hope of salvaging some of the lost investment from a person who has already declined your invitation with a questionable excuse.

As a previous beta tester, ffk has managed to turn around a large amount of glum into some relief for folks who have no idea what they can do with potentially under-utilized tickets. Pretty neat idea eh?

I’d personally like to see a mobile app come out of this. Do you think something like FFK has potential in your country?

In case you missed it, a Twitterstorm erupted Down Under this afternoon over a customer service (I use that term loosely) email from clothing retailer GASP. You can get all the juicy details here:

Exhibit A: The Complaint Email

Exhibit B: The Response from GASP Online Customer Care

Outrage over the email quickly gained traction and GaspGate soon burst into the Twitterstream with the hashtag #GASPFAIL  in the top 5 most trending topics in Sydney, #GASP taking spot number two on the national list.

The GASP Facebook page was the scene of a brand massacre with people expressing their disgust at GASP’s treatment of their clientele and inviting a response, apology, anything….

Whilst this PR disaster unfolded, there was one noticeable guest who did not come to the party, GASP. The only official response from GASP came through deleting Facebook posts from their wall before finally doing away with their brand page altogether.  #GASPFAIL indeed.

Here are some of the comments before the masses were silenced:

Aside from investing in staff training and development, what could they have done to better to manage the crisis? Well, quite a lot.

Like all businesses operating in this brave new world of always on here are some of the crucial mistakes made by GASP this afternoon:

1. Removed complaints from the Facebook Page
2. Remained silent
3. Removed the Facebook page completely
4. Still silent…
5. Twitter, which is a more prominent feedback channel during a crisis, was going off, yet the Gasp Twitter Handle remains, yep, you guessed it…silent (and barren to boot).
6. Links are being circulated to personal Facebook accounts of GASP staff, showing rather unsavoury comments (whether related or not to the customer service email). This shows you just how far consumers will go if wronged.

So, what could they have done?

1. Not handle the customer complaint the way they did first and foremost. They wouldn’t  have this issue had they handled that situation more wisely.
2. Listen and monitor. Once the issue erupted, they should have set up social media listening immediately for brand mentions. This would have provided many insights on what was happening and how the issue was escalating; this in turn would have provided critical information that the PR and management team could have built a plan from. Had GASP been monitoring they would have seen a spike in mentions which would have alerted them to the impending brand massacre.
3. Have a crisis plan in place. When things go wrong it is crucial that there is a clear escalation process and employees know what to do. You have to act with speed before the problem escalates and gets out of control.
4. Admit you’ve made a mistake and rectify it. Don’t stick your head in the sand and pretend there isn’t an issue, address the issue and address it publicly using your social media channels.
5. Be authentic. Don’t throw a canned response or token apology and expect it to change sentiment, it won’t.
6. Never EVER remove negative feedback from your social channels.  It’s social media 101. As GASP has learned, your community does not appreciate being silenced.
7. Have a social media policy. If your employees are active in social and identify themselves as an employee of your business,  they should have clear guidelines on what is and is not appropriate in social media

Crises happen all the time and we know how quickly they escalate with user generated content and social media as the accelerant. A combination of planning, preparation and process is your best defence. Have you got a crisis plan in place?

By Lucie Snape (@LucieSnape)

View “#GASPFAIL” on Storify

블로터닷넷이 창간 5주년을 맞아 ‘한국의 트위터 이용 현황’ 조사를 실시했습니다. 최근 2년 4개월의 데이터를 토대로 한 이 조사를 통해 대한민국 트위터 유저들의 사용 실패를 파악할 수 있을 것이라 생각합니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

880 million tweets have been sent worldwide from April, 2009 to the present point. The number of Korean Twitter users is estimated about 3,017,625 people. Among these, the number of active Twitter users who tweet at least once a day is estimated about 1,179 people. Moreover, the number of users who send tweets at least once a month is 445,339.

조사 기준 시점인 2009년 4월부터 지금까지 발생한 트윗 수는 8억 8천만개이며 한국 이용자는 대략 301만 7천 625명으로 추산됩니다. 하루에 1회 이상 트윗을 작성하는 트위터 마니아는 1,179명이었고 월 1회 이상 트윗을 작성하는 유저도 44만 5천 339명이나 되었습니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

Average Korean Twitter users have 126 followers and follow 119 people creating average 453 tweets. They seem to receive more mentions than sending mentions to others. However, the number of retweets (RT) that they sent out was greater than received RTs.

한국 트위터 유저들의 평균 팔로워 수는 126명이고 이들을 팔로잉하는 유저들은 119명으로 나타났습니다. 한국 트위터 유저들은 평균 453개의 트윗을 날리며 타인을 멘션하기 보다는 맨션 받은 적이 더 많았고 본인이 타인을 RT한 횟수가 RT된 횟수보다 많았습니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

Koreans users have shown their active twitter usage during 11pm – 12am. People are most active on Tuesday and least active on Saturday.

한국 트위터 유저들은 주로 저녁 11시~12시 사이에 가장 많이 트위터를 이용합니다. 화요일에 가장 많이 트위터를 이용하는 반면 토요일은 가장 적게 이용하는 요일입니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

As known as the most famous city in the nation, Seoul is the city where people tweet most. Especially, Tweets are sent most frequently in Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu area.

서울, 경기 지역은 가장 많은 인구가 사는 도시답게 전국에서 가장 많이 트윗이 발생되는 지역이었습니다. 수도권에서도 강남구, 서초구에서 특히 많은 트윗이 발생하는 것으로 나타났습니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

Among Subway stations in Korea, City hall station, Kang-nam station, Yeok-sam station in Seoul are where most tweets occur.

지하철역을 기준으로 조사했을 때는 서울 시청역, 강남역, 역삼역 순으로 트윗 작성수가 가장 높았습니다.