The $1 billion Facebook acquisition made Instagram hit the headlines all around the world. In only 2 years the application has acquired more than 50 million users and heading to 100 million users milestone already.

Here are some fun stats about the users and the usage of Instagram.

- Each day on Facebook 300 million photos are uploaded
- Instagram gains one new user every second
- One billion photos have been taken with the app
- There are roughly 58 photos uploaded each second

In 2010 the average time for uplading a photo was 4 seconds. It raised to 6 seconds in 2011 and finally 10 seconds in 2012.

37% of the users never uploaded a photo using the app while 25% only shared an average of 1-3 photos. The percentage of the active users (more than 50 photos) are 5%.

With the power of Facebook and big news like being in the Android store, Instagram will keep on getting our attention while some of it’s loyal users are uncomfortable with the acquisition. We’ll see how these changes will affect the app and igers.

(Source: http://www.onlinecolleges.com/infographics/instagram-nation-infographic.html)

Current research on this topic by Simply Measured shows, Facebook Timeline increases the brand pages’ engagement rate. The research is done with the 15 early adopter brands that updated their profiles before the others and the results are really positive. The most dramatic changes were seen in brands Livestrong and Toyota that saw their engagement rates jump 161% and 156%. The other brands see the change in an average of 46%.

Looking at complete sample of early adopters shows the following increase in engagement when you compare averages before Timeline vs averages after Timeline:

1. 14% Increase in Fan Engagement
2. 46% Increase in Content Engagement
3. 65% Increase in Interactive Content Engagement (Video and Photo)

It seems the transition to Facebook Timeline will bring positive results for the brands if used correctly. The other outcomes will be realized after all the brands update their profiles. We will be here to analyze them.

Source: (http://simplymeasured.com/blog/2012/03/the-impact-of-facebook-timeline-for-brands-study/)

Everyone knows the concepts of “trending topic” and “hashtag” nowadays. Not only in the digital world, we see hashtags everywhere, in billboards, movies, TV ads, magazine prints… Even the digital culture has grown within the character limitation of Twitter and embraced it with the user behavior of looking through the articles that are long and reading the keywords.

Last year Twitter changed it’s interface and introduced the “discover” feature in order to keep up with the trending topics and read relevant information about them.

From the ordinary people to celebrities Twitter is one of the sweetest addictions that most of us share. We want to congratulate Twitter for it’s 6th year and say “Happy Birthday!”

So what can marketeers expect with the brand timeline? Well the cover photo is the first ideal opportunity for branding and offers a great platform to promote events, products and the brand image. Next, expect the sidebar tabs to disappear which will mean that its likely there will be a greater emphasis on the activity boxes where visitors will be able to get a better overview of the promotions, featured items and other key campaigns running through a Facebook brand page. Whats more the opportunity to use the actual timeline will mean that there will be the entire overview of a brands history on Facebook and a chance for Brands to add more to their brand pages and get more creative with their ‘story’.

Facebook formally unveiled the Open Graph update for everyone in earlier this year and kicked off with 60 partners which extended activity beyond ‘liking’ on 3rd party sites to ‘reading’, ‘listening’, and reading etc.  For users, this seamless sharing mean that they can not only share what they’re ‘reading’, ‘listening’, ‘visiting’ but also see what their friends are up to as well. Spreading the web of influence means that users can get a greater sense of the tastes of their Facebook friends.

What does this mean for businesses, well is an important move in the way that products can be marketed and how friends can influence the awareness of a brand within the reach of a users own network. What this will also mean is that Brands will need to have a stronger focus about how they are engaging with their users and what kind of experiences they offer! Not only that users now expect greater transparency today and the trust factor is becoming more and more influential in their likes and dislikes. Brands who invest in developing a more open relationship with their fans are likely to see the results in the long term.

By integrating your website with Facebook’s Open Graph, you have a greater chance in enhancing your online presence by inviting users to interact on-site using their Facebook accounts. Not only does it mean your content is more likely to be shared and spread through the Facebook  ecosystem  it also opens the door for more interesting ways for brands and their consumers to share information and interact with each other. Now is not the time to shy away from those difficult conversations either – customer today are more likely to appreciate honesty and transparency more then avoidance.

Its time to start looking at social media as a primary strategy rather then ignoring it as a passing fad. Its best to work with a company that not only understands how social media works but also understands how social media tools can be integrated into a company’s own website as well as into daily business operations.

Like Twitter – it’s not likely that Brand pages will be introduced to everyone at once but will be rolled out to a few select brands first. What opportunities do you think brands and businesses should prepare for with the new Brand timelines?

Frumatic will be presenting at the forthcoming Social Innovation Roundtable #3 – to discuss open innovation, open source platforms, and information challenges of Web 2.0!

The event will be taking place on Wednesday the 8th of February 2012 and will be hosted by the Hub Istanbul in conjunction with Frumatic.

“Protect Me From What I Want: Open Innovation, Open Source, Open Information… Is it really that Open?”

Technology is both a gift and a burden!

Individuals both personally and professionally are contributing to their own stress in how technology is impacting their lives

and although we’re in an early stage of leveraging all these platforms, it may not necessarily feel right. Is our information secure and private? Do we understand the role of government in these social arenas?

The way that most of us use technology may become a burden over a a period of time.

Stress about whether you’re getting the right deal, the right information, early enough is starting to impact us all – do you have time to digest all the information and curate what is relevant to you?

If you’re on the other side of the equation such as a brand marketer – trying to understand how best to leverage digital platforms to do your job is becoming equally challenging!

We are very early in what is going to be a rapid acceleration of how we leverage digital platforms as individuals, groups, as a society, as a political culture and certainly as a commercial culture. We have a high speed culture driven by inputs from all directions.

So we need to step back time to time in order to make sense of where this is going to go?

Join us for a round-table discussion from 6.30pm onwards at;

SUPERPOOL

Mumhane Caddesi 18, 3rd floor, 34425 Istanbul, Turkey

Now More Than 4,000 European Customers can Benefit From the Growing Zendesk Ecosystem

Zendesk, the cloud-based help desk support platform, is today announcing the launch of a series of partner programs in Europe allowing customers who refer additional customers to earn a referral fee. The program, called Zendesk Ambassadors, is open to anyone, from a one-man business to a multi-national.

Companies that become Zendesk Ambassadors not only have the chance to make money from representing the fastest growing customer service software in the world, they also get to associate their brand with a leader in the cloud computing space. Zendesk Ambassadors also gain access to private forums and meet-ups with the Zendesk team. Members of the Ambassador Program can go on to become a Zendesk Authorised Partner, an exclusive, invite-only, partner program.

Authorised Partners provide professional services, such as consulting, integration, and migration services, plus training to Zendesk customers. Authorised Partners also receive a referral fee for leads that become customers and in return receive leads from Zendesk customers in need of professional services. Customers must first be an Ambassador before they can be invited to be an Authorised Partner.

“Zendesk partners offer a deep understanding of our products,” said Matt Price, Vice President and General Manager, EMEA. “Whether you need consulting, technical assistance, custom development or any other services with Zendesk, you will find a knowledgeable partner to help you in our partner network.”

The Ambassador and Authorised Partner program join the company’s existing three partner programs in Europe: its Solution, Integration, and Incubator partners.

Frumatic are Zendesk’s Solution Partners

Zendesk’s Solution Partners are recommended for companies wanting help with their Zendesk implementation. Frumatic specialize in web and mobile technologies offering modern solutions. Our clients are companies who want to give their market position a new pulse by using cutting-edge solutions.

Zendesk Integration Partners

Zendesk’s Integration Partners are technology companies that integrate with Zendesk. Partners based in Europe include Atlassian, edocr, LiveChat, CapsuleCRM, Firetext, LogMeIn, KPI dashboard, Nexmo, Podio, SAManage, TactileCRM and RunMyProcess.

Zendesk Incubator Partners

Zendesk’s Incubator Partners serve Europe’s ever-growing start-up community by offering free access to the Zendesk Plus+ plan for a year. Incubator Partners, such as Team Europe Ventures, Le Camping, hackFWD, TechHub, Techcelerate and Seedcamp, help encourage more start-ups to follow some of the best practices around customer service. More than 100 start-ups are already using Zendesk’s free software, totalling approximately €250,000 worth of investment from the company so far.

About Zendesk

Zendesk is the leading provider of proven, cloud-based help desk software. For growing organisations, Zendesk is the fastest way to enable great customer service. More than 15,000 Zendesk customers, including Adobe, Sony, OpenTable and Groupon, trust Zendesk with their most valuable assets: their customers, partners, and employees. Founded in 2007, Zendesk is funded by Charles River Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Matrix Partners.

As authorized partners of Zendesk we’ll be keeping you regularly updated with all the new releases and features from Zendesk.

This week Zendesk announced the launch of new tools for Google Chrome.

Google Chrome users are a bunch of forward-thinking, extension-trying, app-happy users that deserve the latest and greatest tools. So Zendesk are adding one of each to your productivity arsenal with their new Google Chrome extension,Zendesk Activity Stream, and app, Zendesk Launch Pad.

For those who don’t know, Google Chrome is the world’s second-most popular Internet browser (behind Internet Explorer), after it surpassed Mozilla Firefox in late 2011. It has many fantastic features, including an all-in-one navigation and search bar, and a host of applications, games and extensions available through the Chrome Web Store.

Here’s a rundown of Zendesk’s new Chrome tools:

Zendesk Activity Stream (Extension) - View you recent ticket activity and receive real-time notifications for new inquiries no matter what site you’re browsing with the new extension. Once installed, a simple icon appears at the top right of your browser–next to other extensions–that displays notifications and reveals details when clicked, as well as the latest Zendesk product news.

Zendesk Launch Pad (App) - A simple way to launch and search Zendesk or view product updates directly from your Chrome apps homepage.

Both the app and extension are available in nine languages:
- English
- French
- German
- Spanish
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Korean

For more information or to download each, visit the Chrome Web Store.

Welcome to the brand new redesigned Frumatic website. While we’ve been busy working away on some exciting new projects, we’ve also been trying to squeeze in time to give our own site a fresh new look and add some cool features. The planning phase was a collaborative one in which everyone in Frumatic gave input which helped us to personalize our strategic goals. We brainstormed  as a group regularly until we defined how we wanted to the site’s structure and functionality to unfold and then created the prototype for a smooth user experience. We discussed how all of the functionality would work and especially how much would be automated through the WordPress content management system (CMS). Our end result is a seamless balance between ease of use and customization abilities on every page of the site.

The new website runs on the WordPress platform – of course! and also includes a Zendesk integration with a feedback tab on the ‘Expertise’ page. Each of our projects are showcased through the use of large images, videos and slideshows to give a better illustration of the scope of work involved and the technologies implemented. You’ll also notice we’ve got our own photo feed from Instagram and social media integration throughout with Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

According to IDC report published on June 28, 2011, app downloads are projected to grow from 10.7 billion (2010) to more than 182 billion in 2015. Reports also show that mobile advertising spending is increasing 20-30% annually in the developed markets. We are finally at the stage where mobile is seriously considered as one of the channels for marketing.

One of the things we can expect to drive the app market is smart personalization of services and devices. Many of the popular apps already rely heavily on user’s location data available via GPS or a quick sign-up process with Facebook ID. Time and usability are critical when turning one time user to a paying customer. Further utilization of the device capabilities will also play a major role in the native app market. Application developers are pushing the industry towards to a more sustainable app industry with focus on social media connectivity, advertising and commerce within the app.

This takes us to the OS complexity hell. Should you develop the app as native to multiple platforms or make a web app that runs on all? It certainly gives the app huge advantage to be able to use the device capabilities like camera, but it will explode the development budget to cover all operating systems. This is nothing new in the mobile industry and believe me, it used to be much more complex… But it all boils down to what is the app and who are its users. Many believe that future will be dominated by web apps but for special apps and corporate solutions, where employees might have only iPhones for example, a native app is the way.

While the devices and apps are getting smarter it looks like some of the App Stores are getting ‘tighter’ and towards closed, controlled environment. You can read too often about Apple kicking out apps from the store and at the same time they release a new iPhone including the same functionality. Also, the 30% revenue cut by Apple is not supported by all businesses. Maybe the question should be what is the future of the app stores? From the sales point its quite similar to e.g. music sales where the top 10 records are successful while the others are lost in the binary world. Some App Stores are already changing how the apps are ranked and taking also data such as customer reviews into account instead of just number of downloads.

The app industry is young and developing very fast, but its definitely worth looking into. Thats where the users are and its shiny and new. There are plenty of successful business cases from various industry from small cafeteria business to a global hospital solutions, where the apps have improved the business profitability in a very short time. So, its not just games that are making the headlines.

One of the biggest opportunities available to businesses is the rapidly growing mobile and internet audience. Whereas previously restaurants relied on walk-in trade off the street and reviews, there are now even better ways to reach out to your potential clientele.  The most obvious and probably simple tool is a website. However the real purpose of a website is not for the sake of having one, a website that is not well though-out with its concept, or does not give real value to your clientele will never give your business any real business impact.   Most importantly a website should reflect the atmosphere of your place, make users want to visit your establishment and spread the word about it; that’s why it’s very important to think over the design, content and usability.

A very important aspect of your website is the interaction users can have on your website itself and in social networks. Very simply you can start a direct conversation with your clientele by adding a forum, comments area, a request form or a chat feature to your website.  And this is only the tip of the iceberg, today with the growth of social media and the rise in influence of recommendations through these channels there are even more ways to enhance the interactive element on your website. Website interaction with popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare all offer access to a big audience, whose interest in your restaurant, preferences and opinions can be tracked rather precisely. You can obtain more efficient integration with all the social networks through custom tools on your website which allow you to contributing regularly to groups, pages, applications, likes, tweets, check-ins and friends recommendations. These are all ways that were never available before to learn directly about your clientele and to establish a strong relationship with them. Not only can you gain new clients but you also have the option to react quickly to the changes in their preferences.

A website integrated with social networks is an immense marketing tool and if done creatively is invaluable in generating a buzz about you. A successful example is a restaurant chain in New York 4Food which took a very creative approach to social media integration. 4Food turned buying a hamburger into a game where customers could brand their own burger creations and even get credits against future purchases every-time another customer orders their burger.  These burger creations were shared by customers on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare giving other people an opportunity to vote for their favorite burger.  This social media event proved to be a huge success and spread the word about the new business very quickly. It’s even more interesting to see that now David Yan (owner of ABBYY), plans to create a special social network targeted on restaurants and other places to eat out.

Now with mobile reach growing phenomenally this is one area of your digital campaign that should not be missed.  Now its even more vital that there is a mobile version of your website and its not simply enough to assume your current website is suitable for a mobile phone. The logical approach is to adapt your website to a version that is compatible and easy to use on a mobile phone.  As the number of mobile internet users grows globally, this segment is one that will really generate you a major business impact if they are considered early on.

One of the more interesting opportunities that many businesses are now capitalising on are branded mobile applications. Due to in-built GPS, a mobile application can notify users of the nearest restaurants to them and show them directions on how to get there, pop-up information can be pushed to them about special events all based on a mobile users current location. The opportunities to catch customers in your vicinity are so vital and siimilar to a website a mobile application can give you objective and precise results on frequency and time of visits, orders, money spent and the most favourite dishes, etc.

Today there are some very exciting opportunities available to both businesses and consumers. Communication between restaurant owners and their clients should be a simple process and an all-in-one solution offered to make your presence known to web and mobile users is possible. This solution can assist you to establish strong relationships, surpass competitors, and finally bring more profit.