Mediaboss Marketing

Keynote Systems, the expert in Internet and mobile cloud monitoring, monitors the top 10 UK social networking sites on a monthly basis and analyses how these sites perform compared to their competitors. By Robert Castley.

The performance of the social networking sites monitored this month slipped, both in terms of availability and speed, when compared to January. Friends Reunited, Hi5 and Bebo all failed to load in less than two seconds, with Bebo bringing the average right down with an average response time of 16.34 seconds for February. Facebook continued to be the fastest site to load by almost half a second, with an average time of 0.69 seconds.

Bebo also struggled with availability this month, with an average success rate of 94.67%. However Hi5 was the poorest performing site in February, with a success rate of only 81.47%. This means that almost 20% of people trying to access the site this month were met with loading issues.

The new social networking site, Pinterest, has been hitting the headlines a lot this month. Experts are claiming that sign-up for this site has been far faster than for Twitter and Facebook in the first year. This demonstrates that there is still a considerable appetite for new social networking sites, and so its clear that existing sites need to up their game when it comes to performance in order to compete with new sites.

About the author

Robert Castley has been solutions consultant at Keynote for over two years. Prior to working at Keynote, Robert worked as a Professional Services Consultant at a document management company, Macro 4, where he worked on developing custom web interfaces. Robert is passionate about web performance and optimisation and has over 10 years of web development experience. One of his proudest achievements is developing one of the worlds most popular Open Source Content Management Systems to the masses Mambo, which now lives on as Joomla!

About the company

Keynote Systems is a global leader in Internet and mobile cloud monitoring. It provides companies with solutions for continuously improving the online experience. Founded in 1995, Keynote provides testing, monitoring and measurement products and services for any enterprise including online portals, e-commerce sites, B2B sites, mobile operators and mobile infrastructure providers. Keynote products and services help companies improve customer experience in four areas: Web performance, mobile quality, streaming and real user experience testing.

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Performance of social networking sites – Index from Keynote Systems for February 2012

Trouble keeping up with all your social networking streams? Hudld brings them all together under one app for you iPhone. You can link up to 60 total accounts from networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Hudld gives you a better way to navigate, protect, and manage them all. It brings efficiency to a chaotic stream of information.

Brian Ash, who is in charge of the Hudld startup comments on the introduction of the new app: This is the only logical next step in the evolution of social networking client applications. With the growing number of social services, mobile users, and customers juggling many different accounts and services, a centralized hub for this activity is almost unavoidable to keep social networking conducive to its purpose.

Without some innovation geared towards governing this activity over the various networks, we will not outgrow social networking, it will outgrow us to the point that so much of our activity is spread over various accounts, ever growing services and many more users coming in on a daily basis, that we could no longer follow along in any uniform time line or be able to mange or digest them efficiently. Especially on smaller personal devices where time, speed and usability grow increasingly more important to the end user.

Check out a video of the app in use:

I guess it is inevitable. Everybodys using social networking now and there are so many different accounts and streams of information to keep track of, it makes sense that somebody comes out with an app to manage them. Over 50% of mobile internet traffic is somehow connected to social networking. Im sure this isnt going to be the last app we see designed around social media integration, but it is one of the first.

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Hudld For iPhone Innovates Social Networking

By JONATHAN M. HICAP

2NE1 and Super Junior (Photos courtesy of http://www.newsen.com)

MANILA, Philippines - The power of social media, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, is propelling Korean Wave, or hallyu, to new heights and helping the spread of its popularity to North America and other regions.

These social networking sites make it easier for K-pop bands to reach a wider audience in the West, and those fans are turning to the same social networking tools to proclaim their devotion, according to a New York Times article titled Bringing K-pop to the West published March 4.

The NY Times article said the internet is bringing K-pop singers closer to their fans outside Asia.

When bands like 2NE1, Super Junior and SHINee hold concerts in Europe and the United States, tickets sell out within minutes, and fans have used Facebook and Twitter to organize flash mobs demanding more shows, as they did in Paris in May, according to the article.

Indeed, K-pop singers nowadays have their own official Facebook pages, YouTube channels and Twitter accounts where they announce upcoming albums, concerts, appearances and TV shows.

On the other hand, loyal fans translate songs, Korean TV shows where their idols appear on, Korean news articles and posts by the singers on Twitter or me2day into different languages.

The NY Times article said, K-pop bands style is a fusion of synthesized music, video art, fashionable outfits and teasing sexuality mixed with doe-eyed innocence.

It said the Korean music industry focused in digital content and with the increasing influence of social networking sites, K-pop bands began to gain more traction in the West.

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New York Times: Social networking sites help popularize K-pop phenomenon

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter lit up this week and conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh is feeling the effects.

Soon after Limbaugh spent hours on his talk-radio show bashing a Georgetown University law student over her support of birth control, people from around the U.S. took to Facebook, Google+ and Twitter to vent their anger at Limbaugh. With no organized leadership, they en masse called for sponsors of Limbaugh's radio show to pull their advertising.

Today, in part because of this social pressure, Limbaugh's show has lost more than 20 advertisers, according to reports, including Allstate Insurance, AOL, Citrix, Quicken Loans and Sears.

Social networking sites are quickly being seen as the new medium for protesters of all types.

"Social media has entered into a new era, which is way past the point when it was used to find the best dry cleaner or see if a certain restaurant had fresh seafood," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "Now it's become a real tool that is being used to topple governments and even saves lives."

The latest online brouhaha began Feb. 23 when law student Sandra Fluke testified before a congressional committee about the need for insurance companies to cover birth control costs. Limbaugh then called the woman a "slut" and "prostitute" and spent hours discussing her on his radio show.

Word of Limbaugh's actions quickly spread over traditional media and social networking sites, where people were quick to voice their own support or outrage.

For instance, Andy Borowitz tweeted, "Due to remarks of his we consider unacceptable, we have terminated our relationship with Rush Limbaugh. - Satan."

And Stop Rush Limbaugh tweeted, "Please urge Capital One (@AskCapitalOne) to cease advertising on Rush Limbaugh's radio program."

Sensa Products LLC, a weight-loss system company that had been a sponsor of Limbaugh's radio show tweeted Monday: "Rush Limbaugh's comments are not in line with SENSA values so we are pulling our ads indefinitely which shud be down in the next couple days."

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Social media takes on Rush Limbaugh

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday visited Facebook's California headquarters, where he blasted the Iranian government and said the social networking site is a way for people to bypass failed efforts of governments to seek peace.

The 88-year-old leader was scheduled to meet with the company's chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, and launch his official personal page on the site aimed at creating a dialogue with Arabs who live in countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

In an interview with Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg streamed live on the company's website, Peres repeatedly praised Facebook as a tool for positive social change by enabling citizens of different countries to connect.

"The matter of peace is no longer the business of governments but the business of people," Peres said. "Today the people are governing the governments. And when they begin to talk to each other, they are surprised: We should be friends."

In response to a question from Sandberg about Iran's nuclear program, Peres said he had nothing against the Iranian people. At the same time, he condemned the Iranian government as a seat of "moral corruption."

"They want to have nuclear weapon. The combination of viciousness and nuclear weapons is a real catastrophe, a real danger," he said.

Iran denies it is seeking a weapon and insists its nuclear program is for energy production and other peaceful purposes.

Peres' comments came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Barack Obama this week. The two remain at odds over the possibility of an Israeli military strike against Iran. Obama called for more time to let diplomacy work, while Netanyahu refused to rule out an attack in the near future.

In Israel, the presidency is an elected office but serves a mostly ceremonial role. The prime minister acts as the country's primary leader. Peres served as prime minister twice, once in the 1980s and once in the 1990s.

Peres' Facebook visit was part of a four-day swing through Silicon Valley to promote Israel's tech industry. Touring the region's marquee tech companies has become a rite of passage for politicians and celebrities passing through Northern California.

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Peres: Social media helps with peace process