List of the largest Facebook Fan Pages (with links and images)

The Facebook Fan Page Directory aims to allow users to find Facebook Fan Pages more easily, allowing browsing of categories and companies in alphabetical order and removes the need to rely on the notoriously cumbersome Facebook Search mechanism.

The Facebook Fan Page Directory is the first in a number of changes that Facebook are planning to implement over coming weeks to improve user experience. I wrote about the launch of Facebook Fan Pages here and I have now used the new Facebook Fan Page search mechanisms to look at what the most popular fan pages are.

The full Facebook Fan Page directory is here: http://www.facebook.com/directory/pages/

Much harder to find is a way of looking at a full list of Facebook Fan Pages, starting with the most popular. However this link allows users to browse the Facebook Fan Pages in descending order of popularity: http://www.facebook.com/pages/?browse

[NOTE – You have to be logged into Facebook to use the above links effectively]

Here is my list of the top Facebook Fan Pages :

1) Barack Obama – 847,538 Supporters (note they are not called ‘Facebook Fans’)

http://www.facebook.com/barackobama?ref=pdb

Barack Obama Facebook Fan Page

Lots of things on this page, notes, photos, YouTube box and various discussions and debates. Interesting that the number one Facebook Fan page is from a politician rather than a musician or brand......

2) The Chris Moyles Show – 432,798 Facebook fans

http://www.facebook.com/thechrismoylesshow?ref=pdb

Chris Moyles Facebook Fan Page badge that can be added to your personal Facebook profile

UK BBC Radio1 DJ Chris Moyles has a comprehensive fan page with Fan photos, links to his podcast and even Facebook badges that users can display on their profiles (see image.)

3) Apple Students – 416,715 Facebook fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-Students/11147074409?ref=pdb

'Apple Students' Facebook Fan Page logo

'Apple Students' is a popular page, though the main aim of it seems to be to offer a student discount voucher.

4) Victoria’s Secret PINK – 358,841 Facebook fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Victorias-Secret-PINK/26972120470?ref=pdb

Victoria's Secret PINK discount voucher from Facebok Fan Page

Fashion page with PINK news downloadable Facebook widget, opportunities to PINK your photos and read your PINK horoscope. Also promotes PINK summer collection and offers a $15 discount on PINK shorts. Nicely executed page and clearly popular with their target audience!

5) The Stig – 268,696 Facebook fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stig/21382929224?ref=pdb

The Stig's (sparse) Facebook Fan Page

The Stig, test driver from the BBC Top Gear motoring programme is the 5th biggest Facebook Fan page, but doesn't seem to have very much at all on his page - random!

Rest of the top 10 largest Facebook Fan Pages: 6) Daft Punk – 197,052 Facebook fans, 7) Linkin Park – 188,026 Facebook fans, 8) Justin Timberlake – 181,525 Facebook fans, 9) Top Gear – 173,326 Facebook fans, 10) Chris Brown – 170,200 Facebook fans

Highest rated band / music artist:

6) Daft Punk – 195,308 Facebook fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Daft-Punk/22476490672?ref=pdb

Daft Punk Facebook Fan Page

Daft Punk have created an impressive Fan Page with YouTube links to Daft Punk videos, Daft Punk discographies, Daft Punk photos and Daft Punk RSS feeds. The kings of digital music seem to have mastered Facebook fan pages and are the highest listed music act.

Highest rated product:

17) Nutella – 145,721 Facebook fans

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nutella/11340144318?ref=pdb

Nutella Facebook Fan Page

I doubt that anyone would guess that Nutella have the highest ranking product specific Facebook Fan Page. Various photos, YouTube links, fan debates and nuggets of product information - I'm still amazed that people can be so passionate about an everyday product!

Other notable:

36) H&M – 96,335 Facebook fans

http://www.facebook.com/hm?ref=pdb

H&M Facebook Fan Page

H&M have a good looking Facebook Fan page and I wanted to note their efforts too. The H&M Facebook Fan Page is updated regularly with new looks, links to a variety of things (such as the H&M virtual dressing room) and is a hub for a lot of H&M digital initiatives. One for others to try to emulate!

Since launch late last year Facebook Fan pages have had widespread take up and now that users can search and browse more effectively Facebook Fan Pages may become even more popular. I will update this list from time to time as things change. I will also try to contrast the performance of Facebook Fan Pages against Facebook Groups which I have previously written about here.

Pitchero - new social network for sports clubs

Pitchero is a new social network for sports clubs and is about to launch a full platform (due in June 2008).

Pitchero "has been designed specifically for semi professional and amateur sports clubs". Pitchero provides every club (whatever size or structure) with a well designed website with facilities to easily incorporate photo galleries, video uploads, results, statistics and news. The idea is that this will then create a deeper involvement for both club players and supporters.

Screengrab of Pitchero homepage

The Football Association and Rugby Football Union are also interested as they have ambitious targets for sports participation and are looking for new ways to engage young people.

According to the Sunday Telegraph more than 60 football, rugby union and rugby league clubs have signed up from across the UK and using angel investor money the founders, Mark Fletcher and Jon Milsom, have big plans.

Great idea and follows the trend for social networking around a specific niche. This sort of site offers a more targeted way for brands to get involved with social media and I am interested to see what the full platform looks like in June.

6 examples of Twitter use by advertisers, politicians, publishers, developers and users

This time last year there was a lot of hype around Twitter. It seemed to die down a bit, but it has recently felt like Twitter is getting a second wind and properly coming into the mainstream. Twitter do not publish official figures on number of users or regularity of updates, so there is no hard data to back up my opinion, however the Twitter Facts blog have looked at this recently and the stats they have found seem to agree.

[UPDATE: Hitwise have written about Twitter here and have noticed a significant increase in traffic in recent weeks]

Here are 6 examples that illustrate how Twitter is entering the mainstream:

1) News organisations using Twitter to extend reach

Twitter is a great way of generating feeds and a number of publishers are using it to connect with readers and highlight particular stories / discussions. US news organisations like CNN and the New York Times have used Twitter for a while, but more recently British publishers have started experimenting with Twitter. SkyNewsBoulton or GordonM (editor of Brand Republic) are good examples of how Twitter is being used to draw attention to particular articles, whilst creating a deeper engagement with viewers / readers.

Screengrab of the skynewsboulton Twitter

2) Politicians using Twitter to let voters keep track of them

The most followed Twitterer is Barack Obama with over 25,000 people following him on Twitter. In the UK London Mayor candidates Boris Johnson (http://www.twitter.com/backboris) and Brian Paddick (http://www.twitter.com/brianpaddick) have also been experimenting with Twitter to let voters know what they are doing and Downing Street (http://twitter.com/downingstreet) now have a Twitter account that they regularly update to show Gordon Brown's activity. The use of social media in politics is growing and micro-blogging politicians is an interesting development.

3) Advertisers using Twitter for engagement

In the UK the Open University are currently running a promotion with the Daily Telegraph and as part of this they are using Twitter to distribute interesting articles and insight - http://twitter.com/openuniversity

Screengrab of the OpenUniversity Twitter

Twitter.com has not accepted display advertising, but in Japan (where it has just launched a Japanese language version) Twitter.jp has decided to accept homepage advertising. "One of the first advertisers is Toyota which has a Twitter account where they talk about events and products. The [Toyota homepage display] ad directs people to a Toyota Twitter account where the users can follow the brand. Toyota can easily see who their fans are and follow what their fans are saying about them."
(http://joi.ito.com/)

Screengrab of the Toyota Japan Twitter display ad

4) Increase in Twitter spam

Twitter is now being used for spamming with a number of Twitter users starting to complain about Twitter spam. The default setting on Twitter allows anyone to start following you at any time. Twitter spam involves becoming a follower of a large number of Twitterers in a very short space of time (often thousands in a few hours.) The hope of the Twitter spammers is that users that they have added as followers will either reciprocate and start following them, or at least look at the website listed on their profile.

http://mashable.com/2008/04/14/twitter-spam-out-of-control/

The only way of preventing Twitter spam is to change the Twitter settings so that you have to personally approve each new follower, but this can be time consuming and feels against the spirit of an open community. However, the development of Twitter spam is a good indicator that Twitter is now properly established!

5) Twitter applications

There are now a large range of Twitter applications resulting from Twitter's opening of their API. Twitterers can update their Facebook status with their Tweets and various applications like Tweetscan (http://tweetscan.com/alerts.php) allow scanning of Tweets or Twitter tracking. Twitter is also popular component of Mashups and initiatives like Twittervision (http://twittervision.com) or Twittearth (http://twittearth.com) give interesting perspectives. There is even a desktop application called Twhirl (http://www.twhirl.org/) that allows Twitter to be updated from Twitterers desktops.

Screengrab of the TwittEarth application

The most talked about Twitter application currently though is Twistori, a beautifully designed application that allows people to follow Twitter updates around Love, Hate, Think, Believe, Feel and Wish.

Screengrab of the Twistori application

6) Twitter users creating Twitter projects

A number of Twitterers seem to be experimenting with Twitter projects. There doesn't seem to be any real objective to the majority of these other than curiosity and an interest in seeing what happens. A good example of this is Inwotr (http://www.twitter.com/inwotr / http://www.inwotr.com) where a Twitter user is trying to virtually travel the world through connections made through Twitter!

Twitter seems to be reaching critical mass and whilst commentators have long been predicting that Twitter will be the next big thing, I think the above examples are good indicators that Twitter will soon be properly established in the mainstream. Interested to hear of any other examples.

6 Great new examples of digital books, digital publishing and digital book promotion

A while ago I wrote up a list of 5 great examples of Digital Books and Digital publishing (http://www.nickburcher.com/2008/01/print-goes-digital-digital-publishing.html). Since then more examples have come to light and publishers are finding ever more innovative, digital ways to create and promote their titles. So I thought I was worth publishing a follow up list.

Here are my latest examples of digital books, digital publishing and digital book promotion:

1) Collaborative publishing

Open Source and collaborative working are growth areas and a number of authors / publishers are seeking to develop content this way. The final chapter of Wikinomics was left for readers to write at wikinomics.com and the resulting work will soon be published. Charles Leadbeater published the manuscript for his latest book ('We-Think') online and invited comments and suggestions - authorship has been credited to himself and '259 others.'

Finally the 'Age Of Conversation' (as referenced by Nail Perkin here) has 275 bloggers all writing a small section which will then be weaved together to form a finished product.

2) Social networks around books

Publishers have been exploring social networks as mechanics to foster community around certain titles.

HarperCollins has launched Lola's Land, a soocial network for young girls based around Think Pink and Beauty*Licious by Lisa Clark.

The first HarperCollins social network, Authonomy, was launched in late 2007. Aiming to do what MySpace does for unsigned bands, Authonomy gives aspiring writers the opportunity to upload their manuscripts and connect with readers and publishing professionals.

Penguin also have an existing social network called Spinebreakers aimed at teenage book fans. Furthermore, last month Penguin launched its own online drama (a series of 2 minute videos based around Melvin Burgess's book 'Sara's Face'). Penguin also run a site called Blogapenguinclassic which aims to create discussion and community around Penguin Classic titles.

3) Books in Second Life

It was widely reported that Random House launched a branded Second Life island in May 2007. The Random House island allows readers to interact through organised gatherings - from book clubs and writers groups to launch parties.

However I have been into Second Life and whilst I can find 'Oprah's book club', I can't find the Random House island. The only reference I have seen is a comment on a blog post that it is on 'Sheep Island' - I will amend this post if I actually locate it!

4) Books using YouTube and blogs

The cute series of childrens books around the character of 'Fluffy Little Kitten' are being marketed in a number of ways on the internet. They are promoted through the Fluffy Little Kitten web page, Facebook activity and also through a range of associated blogs such as 'Fluffy's thought for the day' and 'Kittipedia.'

Books can be bought on Amazon or downloaded from the Fluffy Little Kitten website. There is also a downloadable picture to colour in and even a YouTube clip based on the disco scene in 'Too Many Kittens':

5) Automated publishing

Philip M. Parker (chair of management science at Insead) has developed an automated publishing system for business reports and business books. Often created around very niche subjects, Philip M. Parker's computer system trawls the internet for information, extrapolates figures and charts / graphs trends and data. With over 200,000 books published he is the most published author on the planet! Very impressive and a YouTube film showing the system in action is here:

6) Mobile Books

Cellphone novels have really taken off in Japan. Authors use mobile phones to publish and consumers use mobile phones to read them. Containing little of the traditional plotting and character development of a traditional novel, cellphone novels mainly of short sentences characteristic of text messaging.

In December 2007 Japanese publishers were shocked to find the year-end best seller tally showed that cellphone novels (republished in book form) have come to dominate the mainstream, with 5 of the top 10 best sellers originally cellphone novels! When cellphone readership is included the sales volume is even higher - definitely a trend to watch!

The New York Times published a detailed analysis here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html?th&emc=th

I'm sure things will keep developing and I will write another list if I see anything else of interest in the digital publishing world.

Isuki.com launches a new form of internet dating

www.isuki.com has launched and seeks to offer a new style of internet dating. Part dating site, part social network, all new members are vetted and approved by the community. www.Isuki.com has been nominated in the North East digital awards in the 'best start-up website' category (http://www.northeastdigitalawards.co.uk/browse/digital-users/best-startup-website ) and is an interesting alternative to established dating sites.

"To become a member of iSuki, applicants are checked or vetted by members over a three day period. Applicants can become full members when their applications are passed by existing iSuki members in the gender and age range specified as desirable dates. All new applicants are rated based on their individual profile."

"Prospective members are also able to promote themselves by ‘livening up' their profile through a number of functions such as uploading video, music and pictures."

As social networks proliferate and become more focussed / more niche, I think Isuki is a novel twist and I am intrigued to see how it turns out.

Strategy Verdict - Ditto.net - my article featured in Media Week

I was recently asked by Media Week to write a 'strategy verdict' on the launch of ditto.net and they featured my piece in this weeks edition :

"Social networking is no longer restricted to mass-market sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Media players such as Bauer are also climbing over themselves to get a piece of the social networking pie.

Bauer is tapping into this trend by launching Ditto.net, a social network-ing site for film fans and music lovers. The decision to embrace social media and the opportunities it has to offer is a brave one.

Ditto.net certainly looks the part - it is well designed and easy to use. It combines elements of dating sites, community sites and the Amazon-like recommendation model to allow users to discover and share films and music with like-minded people.

However, the success of the site will depend on the number of users it attracts. Bauer is a dominant player in the music and film magazine market, but by entering the social media arena it will suddenly find itself surrounded by a large number of competitors. User numbers for NME.com, Yahoo Music and Radio 1 are huge, and while going niche may be an advantage for Bauer, advertisers will always prefer large user numbers.

I wonder, therefore, whether Bauer is better off launching Ditto.net within an existing social networking property where user numbers will be bigger. The iLike application on Facebook, for example, which lets users add music and videos to their profiles, started life as a stand-alone website struggling to attract significant numbers. When it was launched as an application on Facebook six months later, one million users signed up in the first week alone. If Ditto.net continues as a stand-alone social network, I would like to see Bauer extend advertising options beyond the site itself.

Advertising options that run across a range of channels, including Ditto.net, and Bauer's magazines and TV channels, for example, will deliver more value to both brands and Bauer. After all, the future of such niche social networking sites will depend on the return on investment they deliver to publishers.

Review by Nick Burcher, Board Director, Zed Media"

This was also featured on Brand Republic here:

http://www.brandrepublic.com/InDepth/Analysis/793872/Strategy-verdict---Dittonet/

MySpace moving into content production with Beyond The Rave and Operation MySpace

After the success of Quarterlife, Myspace are looking at further ways that they can be both content producers and content distributors.

Quarterlife was originally a series of 8 minute short films on Myspace. It was then picked up by network TV and extended into a series of 24 minute programmes. Myspace are following this up with a series of other content initiatives. Operation Myspace on 10th March (www.myspace.com/operationmyspace) saw the site organise a concert in Kuwait for military personnel. Myspace flew in a number of big name acts (including Jessica Simpson and the The Pussycat Dolls) and then live streamed the event in HD through a bespoke Myspace page. Operation Myspace is the first time that a website has live streamed HD and a remarkable 2 million people tuned in to watch.

Operation MySpace - Carlos Mencia


The biggest MySpace content undertaking in the UK is a joint production with Hammer films called 'Beyond The Rave.' This is Hammer Films first film for 30 years and it is Myspace TV's first UK commission. It breaks in April and is a high production vampire film with a cast that includes Sadie Frost. Beyond The Rave will initially start with four 3 to 5 minute clips uploaded to www.myspace.com/beyondtherave and then additional installments will be uploaded every few days. Myspace users will be able to post Beyond The Rave clips to their own profiles and once the whole film has been shown through Myspace a full length, 90 minute 'Beyond the Rave' DVD will be created for sale. (Beyond the Rave teaser can be seen here:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=23838631)

Myspace are planning local commissions for Spain and Germany too. Bebo have had considerable success with Kate Modern and YouTube, Hulu and others are now also distrubuting professional content. Whilst TV on demand through things like the BBC iPlayer is currently successful, short form video content distributed through social networks may ultimately be a more productive way for TV / video producers to engage youth audiences?

London mayor election will see a new style of British political campaigning online

The power of crowds has been evident with a number of collaborative initiatives that have brought together likeminded online users. For example 30,000 people paid for a stake in www.myfootballclub.com which led to the group purchase of Ebbsfleet United football club and www.tribewanted.com created a combination of online community and real world sustainable tourism project on the Fijian island of Vorovoro.

To date the UK political establishment have not tapped into this trend though. In 'Politics, Policy and the Internet' (a recent publication for the Centre For Policy Studies) Telegraph journalist, Robert Colville, argues that British political parties have failed to embrace the new opportunities online (see here where you can download the pdf of his full study). Indeed the British National Party website has the same market share as all of the other UK major parties combined. He argues that the major UK political parties could reverse this by altering their mindset from “send” to “receive”, by learning the lessons of unofficial organisations such as bloggers, activists and campaign groups which have exploited the potential of the internet.

Whilst there are political blogs and sites like Webcameron, no party has truly engaged online communities in policy development. Downing St e-petitions have seen specific groups mobilised around particular issues (1 million people against roadpricing), but the UK has not seen anything similar to Estonia's 'today I decide' initiative that offered the Estonian public the chance to influence national policy and feedback on proposed new laws.

In the US Presidential elections Ron Paul and Barack Obama particularly have shown how effective the internet can be as a vehicle for raising funds and engaging supporters. Ron Paul is an interesting case because his campaign has used the internet to generate support far exceeding the original predictions for his campaign. The US electoral system means that he was always going to struggle against the more established candidates and campaign machines, however his online strategy has set the bar for online campaigning (see my previous post here: http://www.nickburcher.com/2008/02/no-other-presidential-candidate-can.html). Ron Paul and Barack Obama's online tactics could be particularly effective in a democracy with a more focussed electoral timeframe (weeks rather than months / years) and some of these strategies could be well suited to the forthcoming election for London's mayor.

The London mayoral election is the first really significant British election in a Web 2.0 world and over the next few weeks London is set to see some online political campaigning that has not been previously seen in the UK. Whilst things like Ken Livingstone's Search campaign are already running, the really interesting moves are around some of the independent candidates.

The socially progressive website www.londonelectsyou.co.uk is offering to award £50,000 to the campaign of an independent candidate. This will be awarded to the winner of a sort of online primary that www.londonelectsyou.co.uk are running, with the candidate gaining the most online votes by 18 March qualifying for the financial support.

Time Out magazine have entered their own independent candidate (Michael Hodges) into this competition and have flagged it, under the strapline of 'Vote Hodges', on the front cover of their magazine this week.

Michael Hodges is offering readers the chance to participate in the collaborative production of his London manifesto. More details can be found here: http://www.helphodges2008.com

Using public domain, online voter suggestions and feedback to influence an election manifesto is a clever idea and I'm sure the main UK political parties will start seriously investigating this sort of model for testing their own policy ideas. It is also a useful mechanism for bringing MPs closer to their constituents.

Alternatively if the UK political parties do not adopt practices of this nature, it may not be long before www.mypoliticalparty.co.uk actually becomes a reality?

FOOTNOTE:

I have also written about the Google strategies of the respective candidates here: http://www.nickburcher.com/2008/04/are-london-mayor-candidates-making-most.html

Financial Times launches social networking initiatives with FT executive forum and FT.com Facebook application

The Financial Times have launched social networking initiatives on 2 different levels. The first is through the Financial Tiimes conferences division and targets media and technology executives. The FT are also targeting students through a Facebook group that offers discounted subscriptions and free FT content.

The FT executive forum entails payment of a 12-month standard membership fee of £1,700 plus VAT. According to Brand Republic 'members will be able to search and contact fellow members using the online networking tool and will have complimentary passes for any conference from the FT's Global Conferences and Events portfolio, access all FT conferences' speaker presentations and podcasts, access to face-to-face members' networking events and a subscription to FT.com.'

This is apparently the first of a number of forums that the FT are planning. They are looking at similar initiatives for luxury goods and property sectors later this year.

The FT are also looking to recruit future subscribers to ft.com by offering free student subscriptions through Facebook. They are offering an FT.com Facebook application to student users that will give a PIN code that can be used to gain a premium 12 month subscription to FT.com. Facebook users who install the application will be able to share it with friends and the FT.com Facebook application will also add a badge to users Facebook profiles and will publish items in users Newsfeeds.

There are widespread predictions that the future of social networking will be based around smaller, niche communities and with these initiatives the FT are well placed to tap into this.

The executive forum is not necessarily a replacement for LinkedIn but enhances the FT conference offering and gives value to the users in terms of access to both presentations and attendees. The FT.com Facebook application also shows that the FT have a good understanding of how people are interacting online and is a clever way of engaging with potential future subscribers.

OU and Telegraph use video, Twitter, newspaper and web to promote OU courses!

The Daily Telegraph have launched a range of activity with the Open University to promote further learning. A variety of innovative activity includes web, newspaper and video executions - there is even a mobile angle as readers can engage with the OU through Twitter!

"The OU offers a great learning experience that will be enjoyable, rewarding and, in many cases, life-changing. More flexible than traditional study routes, students can fit learning around their lifestyles; whether round a career, a family, their financial situation – or any other special needs. The OU is an accessible option to all.

With more than 560 inspiring courses to choose from covering subjects as diverse as accounting to algebra, biology to business studies, criminology to caring, everyone can find a course to suit their needs."

Web

Telegraph.co.uk OU homepage

The homepage of the promotion (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ou) links to the video content and other aspects of the promotion. It also contains a prize draw that allows readers to win £250 course vouchers, every week for the next 8 weeks.

Video

The Telegraph and OU have together produced a series of video interviews with a wide range of people discussing how the OU has helped them. These videos are hosted on Brightcove and the first video can be seen through the main homepage or through the link here:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1406608178/bclid1443716674/bctid1443772664

Video homepage on telegraph.co.uk

Newspaper

The activity is also being promoted in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The video interviews are running as advertorials in paper and the OU also have logos appearing around the games on the back page (taking sites around the crossword and Sudoku puzzles.)

Advertorial in the Daily Telegraph

Twitter

This promotion also branches into social networking and mobile by allowing readers to follow the OU on Twitter. The OU are uploading news stories and interesting facts to allow users to engage through mobile. (http://twitter.com/openuniversity)

Open University Twitter

This is a great example of a traditional newspaper publisher embracing new channels, resulting in an innovative cross-media promotion for an advertiser. It will be interesting to see the results!

Latest Facebook usage statistics

July 08 UPDATE - Facebook usage statistics by country and Facebook usage compared to population data can be found here: http://www.nickburcher.com/2008/07/facebook-user-numbers-by-country-and.html

I last wrote about Facebook usage statistics here: http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/12/latest-facebook-usage-statistics-users.html

The latest Facebook usage statistics show a few changes - notably an increase in overall users and increases in Facebook users in the UK, Turkey and France.

- Facebook now has more than 67 million active users.
- Facebook has seen an average of 250,000 new registrations per day since Jan. 2007, with an average of 3% weekly growth since Jan. 2007.
- Facebook active users are doubling every 6 months
- Facebook gets more than 65 billion page views per month and more than half of active users return daily
- According to comScore people spend an average of 20 minutes on Facebook every day(comScore)

Facebook latest country statistics

- Facebook is the sixth-most trafficked site in the United States (comScore)
- The UK now has the has the most Facebook users outside of the United States, with more than 8 million active users
- Canada has dropped to now stand as Facebook's third largest country with more than 7 million active users
- Remaining top 10 countries in order of active Facebook users (outside of the U.S., Canada and UK): Turkey, Australia, France, Sweden, Norway, Colombia and South Africa. (Turkey and France have moved up the list, Colombia is a new addition and Hong Kong has fallen out of the top ten.)

Facebook latest applications statistics

- Facebook is now the number one photo sharing application on the Web (comScore)
- Facebooks photo application draws more than twice as much traffic as the next three sites combined (comScore)
- More than 14 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day
- More than 6 million active user groups
- Over 18,000 applications have been built on the Facebook platform
- 140 new applications are added each day
- More than 95% of Facebook members have used at least one application built on the Facebook platform

Facebook latest group statistics

- Facebook do not publish statistics for the largest / biggest groups, but I have written about these in the past:

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/11/list-of-largest-facebook-groups-part.html

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/10/biggest-largest-groups-on-facebook.html

Since writing about the largest groups on Facebook, the only challenger to the Guinness Record group seems to be the Six Degrees of Seperation group which has over 4 million members. (This is noted in the comments of the second post I wrote about the largest / biggest groups on Facebook.)

Bill Gates joins LinkedIn as part of LinkedIn redesign and Microsoft ad takeover

LinkedIn have introduced a range of new features including a newly designed home page and Facebook style status updates. To coincide with the new features LinkedIn have signed a deal with Microsoft that has seen Bill Gates join LinkedIn! If you know his email address you can ask him to become part of your LinkedIn network ('Bill Gates is now a connection') - but he is not open to receiving referrals or InMail.

Bill Gates has also posted a LinkedIn user question entitled ‘how can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?’ In 4 days Bill Gates' LinkedIn question has received over 3000 responses!

Bill Gates' LinkedIn question

This is a clever way of driving more LinkedIn traffic, especially as Microsoft have bought all the ad inventory on LinkedIn at the same time.

A number of commentators believe that the next phase of social networking will be based around interest-specific social networking communities. Whilst sites like Dopplr (business travel) and WAYN (travel) are doing well, the enhancements that LinkedIn have added to their site could mean that they become the hub for virtual business networking.

Facebook Anthem - getting bored of Facebook song set to go viral?

Rebel Virals (the company behind the Sony Bravia painted man viral) have released a 'Facebook Anthem' on YouTube. The Facebook Anthem is billed as a response to RhettandLink's original Facebook Song on YouTube:

RhettandLink's original Facebook song on YouTube
The Facebook Anthem is set to Billy Joel's 'We didn't start the fire' and is something of an anti-Facebook song, featuring a range of Facebook applications:

"Facebook is a crime, when people have too much time
Sending me requests, IQ and brain tests
Its no f**king joke, I don't like to Superpoke
Scrabulous, Hotness, update my status
I'm getting bored of Facebook,
So don't invite me, throw a sheep or bite me" etc

See the full Facebook Anthem at YouTube on below:

Facebook Anthem on YouTube

The big question is whether the Facebook Anthem is a tongue in cheek commentary on how people are using their time or an anti-Facebook song that represents wider disillusionment with social networking? Evidence points in both directions - Nielsen online recently reported the first fall in Facebook's UK unique users, but Facebook report an increase in active UK users up to 8.3m from 7.7m in December.

It will be interesting to see how far the Facebook Anthem spreads and what people think of it.

Latest Twitter usage statistics illustrate Twitter's global reach

Biz Stone sent out a Twitter update email this morning. It discusses new features (such as easier replying), trends such as Twitter use in the Presidential election and also gives some interesting statistics:

Whilst Twitter does not publish actual user numbers, they have released some Twitter usage statistics for share of web traffic. These Twitter statistics are only based on web traffic and do not take into account mobile use, however the fact that 60% of Twitter web traffic is outside the US (with 39% from Japan) demonstrates how widely Twitter is being used. With Twitter now launching in India numbers will no doubt increase again!

[Twitter international web traffic - click to enlarge]

Another way of visualising this is through the TwitterVision (http://twittervision.com) mash-up. It shows Twitter updates in realtime on a world map or globe. Interesting to watch and gives a good perspective of how widely Twitter is being used.

Twitter have also published some insightful statistics about the volume of Twitter connections that people have. 50% of Twitter users now have 10 followers and are following 10 people. The top 10% of Twitterers have over 80 followers and follow 70 people. The top 150 Twitterers are listed here on http://www.twittown.com/friends/topfollowers_1

More stats can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/3crjdt

NMA feature on 'Social Communication' - email vs social networking as a way of communicating - includes my comments

This weeks NMA magazine had a feature debating how social networking is affecting email.

Some of my comments were included;

'Nick Burcher agrees: "email does still have a role, as long as advertisers shift towards offering value - something useful rather than just a marketing message. They need to engage on a more personal level and have a conversation."'

More controversially it also included: 'Nick Burcher says, "For younger generations, social networking and instant messaging have replaced email for communicating. For them, sending an email is like writing a letter with a quill. This makes it harder for advertisers to reach this demographic using traditional techniques."'

Six Degrees of Separation, Stanley Milgram, Social Networks and experiments on LinkedIn!

I attended a really interesting course at the London Business School tonight and have done some (LinkedIn) experiments in the aftermath!

Dan Goldstein gave the lecture tonight, discussing online social networks and viral marketing in the context of classic psychological experiments such as those conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1950’s. We also covered the the ‘Psychology of Influence’ by R.Cialdini and ‘The Science Of A Connected Age’ by Duncan J. Watts.

We covered flash mobs and Lois Weisberg in trying to understand viral marketing and social networks through degrees of separation. The classic assumption made by Milgram was that everyone is linked through an average 6 connections, the ‘Six Degrees Of Separation’ theory. Subsequent experiments in a digital world (by people like Duncan Watts) have shown this to be more like ‘4 Degrees of Separation’ (though the ‘6 Degrees of Separation’ Facebook Group seems to be more promotional vehicle than scientific experiment!)

At the end of the session Mr Goldstein gave us his email address and invited us to connect with him if we wanted to. I thought I would put the separation theory to the test and I decided to look him up on LinkedIn - in line with Separation theory I thought it would be interesting to see if he was in my extended network of contacts!

I was not surprised to find that he is a ‘3rd-degree contact’ (ie a friend of a friend), but I was surprised by the diversity of my contacts who are LinkedIn to him. 4 of my contacts are Linked to him, but they are from different stages of my life and spread across 3 different continents! One was a University friend who now lives in Austin, Texas, one is a Regional Director for my company in Singapore, another is an American working in London who sells me things and the final one is a consultant in London that I have worked with.

This is not strictly 4 / 6 degrees of Separation, but it shows what a small world we live in and is a great endorsement for the effectiveness of LinkedIn!

Tribewanted is a unique social experiment in the South Pacific brought to life through tribewanted.com and social media

Tribewanted is a unique community tourism project that is simultaneously based on Vorovoro Island, Fiji and online. Starting in 2006 and running for 3 years, Tribewanted is living alongside the small indigenous Mali community on Vorovoro to build a simple, sustainable village.

The project has been brought to life using social media. People from around the world were then encouraged to get involved through www.tribewanted.com and intrepid travellers could register through the website and if approved could visit for two to twelve weeks (though some stayed even longer!) The elected chiefs, Tribewanted team and visiting members all met on-line before beginning their journey to Vorovoro and as of January 2008 four hundred members aged 4 to 67, had visited Vorovoro.

Over 1300 members from 35 countries have now joined Tribewanted.com online network. Members have debated and voted on how the on-line and on-island communities should be structured. Each month a tribe member is elected to be the online tribe's chief on Vorovoro. The chief works alongside the team on Vorovoro to make sure the project progresses.

Tribewanted.com is a great example of the new breed of social networks that are coming through - social networks with a purpose. Rather than being a communication utility like Facebook where the social network is the 'end', for sites like tribewanted.com (and newer launches like Dopplr) social networking technology is the means.

Tribewanted has been followed by media from around the world and a 5-part BBC observational documentary called “Paradise or Bust” starts on 21st January 2008 on BBC2 at 9pm . Newspapers are also covering Tribewanted with features in Guardian Weekend, the Sunday Times and Daily Express appearing soon. Online there is a Tribewanted Facebook group and a large number of Tribewanted photos on Flickr.

Tribewanted and www.tribewanted.com were also featured in the UK edition of Metro on 15th Jan:



Tribewanted / 'Paradise or Bust' BBC video trailer on You Tube:

Highlights and having a Christmas rest!

After hectic blogging throughout this year I have decided to take a Christmas break for a few days. Thank you to everyone who has stopped by over the year, I look forward to seeing you again in 2008. Happy Christmas!

In the meantime feel free to look at some of the http://www.nickburcher.com/ posts that generated most traffic this year:

Politics and the internet posts

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/10/search-is-big-opportunity-for-political.html - Search is a big opportunity for politicians

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/10/search-is-big-opportunity-for-political.html - Election 2.0?

Posts about Facebook - largest groups and examples of people using Facebook cleverly:

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/11/list-of-largest-facebook-groups-part.html - List of the largest Facebook groups (part 2) and the difference between 'I am a fan of' and 'I am a member of'

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/10/biggest-largest-groups-on-facebook.html - The biggest / largest groups on Facebook part one of my list!

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/09/5-great-examples-of-retailers-using.html - 5 Great Examples of retailers using Facebook

Other high traffic posts - Batman and newspapers!

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/11/8-great-examples-of-newspapers-using.html- Great examples of newspapers using digital

http://www.nickburcher.com/2007/11/batman-dark-knight-with-heath-ledger.html - Batman Dark Knight with Heath Ledger, viral seeding starts 18 months before release!

Molson pulls 'Canadian Nation' student Facebook Group competition after accusations of promoting excess drinking

Canadian lager brand Molson have recently been running a 'Molson Canadian Nation' campaign, but this has become the latest big name social media campaign to run into difficulties. The campaign ran as a Facebook Group under the banner of 'Molson Canadian Nation', but has been cancelled after accusations that it promoted irresponsible drinking.

'Canadian Nation' university and college students were encouraged to post pictures of themselves partying on their campus, with the best photo winning an $8000 trip for 5 to Cancun. Various 'university administators' condemned Molson for promoting excess drinking and irresponsible behaviour. People have also pointed out the danger to future career prospects of posting drunken party photos to the internet.