IR needs more Active Engagement on Facebook

• As IR Web Report blogger Dominic Jones reported, TVI Pacific Inc. has used its Facebook page since Nov. 2009, and its forum was started by retail investors and has received over 200 questions to company responses! The company made their Facebook page the sole source for corporate discussion. The plus side of Facebook? More user privacy. (Source)

• 58% of Facebook users log in from work, but only 1 out of 4 is Facebook friends with their boss (Source)

• Communicate Magazine reported 46% of the attendees at Tuesday night's Investor Relations Society conference said that they don't use social media as business tools EVER! Risks involved with social media engagement include time and limited control, but the benefits of taking advantage of these popular outlets is more evident. This gives investors and shareholders a place to engage with the company through the websites they are already members on. As reported by IR Web Report, companies are putting themselves in risk by not jumping on the social media bandwagon because they aren't monitoring, managing, or engaging. The number of investors/analysts' usage of these sites is increasing, but the accounts are managed by inexperienced employees not aware of all of the rules that regulate IR postings to investors. If IROs cannot fully be involved on social websites, they need to listen to what investors and shareholders are saying and posting (Source).

• Social media is a great outlet for companies to learn more about your fans, and Facebook is engaging with brands in order to do so. Facebook is developing Facebook Questions and trying it out on certain profiles and brand pages. This application would be similar to Formspring.me which allows users or site visitors to anomously post questions privately and answers are shared with everyone. On Facebook, this will allow brands to respond directly and privately, communication not usually linked with brands. I am interested to see users' engagement in this added feature, and if brands can keep up with consumers' and investors' questions and concerns. (Source)

Invest / Voting / Pics / Fail

• Facebook has been in the market for over 6 years and still remains a private company, a company not just limited to investors with a net worth of $1million to buy private shares. An article called "alternative ways to invest in facebook" provides suggestions to invest in companies/funds aligned with Facebook. Companies suggested were: The Neilsen Company, Microsoft (holding a 1.6% stake in FB), Retail companies, SharesPost, and competitors of Facebook. Why invest in competitors? Because you never know when the next big thing regarding social media will be unveiled. The article also tells you to keep an eye out for Facebook's IPO because with its current worth ranking $11.5 billion, its estimated worth is double if it goes public. Once Facebook reaches $10 million in total assets and 500+ shareholders they must disclose their financial information. To indirectly invest in Facebook, buy stocks from those companies' investment groups that benefit when Facebook does; as Facebook grows, the need for new/better/bigger social media aspects grows (Source)
  
  
• Who says nothing good can come from Facebook? When I first read this article about Facebook and voting registration, I was confused about a focused election drive during this time to realize it was for the UK not US. SO, In the UK, Facebook is trying to get unregistered voters to register before the April 20th deadline. Working with the Electoral Commission, when Facebook users visited the site over the weekend, they were asked if they have registered. If "no," the page loads to allow them to enter their info online; then print the page and bring it to their registration office with the address provided on the site. I think that something similar needs to be implemented in America, but it should be held closer to our primaries and provide information after registration about all candidates' positions, because we need educated voters (Source)
  
  
• Facebook purchased Divvyshot, a year-old photo sharing site to add another way for users to share their pictures. Divvyshot allows people to add to the same album. Facebook has more than 3 billion photos uploaded monthly. Divvyshot is no longer allowing new accounts and all existing users will be moved to Facebook within the next month (Source).
  
  
• An article with the view that big businesses are bad at social media, says if youre a company not using social media youre a company viewed as not having a website. Businesses are establishing an identity on social media but not doing so effectively because you can't just simply create an account and move on. The most important element is using these outlets to engage and communicate with your investors or consumers, which is the area where big companies are failing (Source)

Bye Bye Bebo and Microsoft

“PR used to be considered the poor relation of advertising. I think you could argue that word of mouth has always been the most effective form of communication. Digital PR is like word of mouth on steroids.” - Simon Clift, Chief Marketing Officer for Unilever (Source)

• AOL is looking to sell or shut down its social networking site called “Bebo,” which stands for Blog Early, Blog Often. The site has been around for the past 5 years. I honestly have never heard of it. Although, AOL only recently bought the site a few years ago. AOL plans to take action as soon as this May. The major difference from this site in comparison to Facebook, would be interaction; Bebo has polls between users/friends. And the music section is similar to MySpace. (Source)
• Microsoft was an investor in Facebook, and during this month Facebook has stopped using Microsoft’s ads in some international markets; and the VP of US ad sales at Microsoft, Robin Domeniconi feels these ads may also be dropped in the US. Just 2 years ago, Microsoft had invested $240 million in Facebook. Whether Facebook “Unfriending” them is a hint towards their own success with advertising or power to control ads is debatable. I feel that the Facebook vs. Microsoft battle will not be disappearing anytime soon. (Source)

Facebook Future Plans: Advertising & China

Cash Flows into Facebook: Do Users = Profit??
Over the weekend, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg said that Facebook has “been profitable for a long time.” However, the company still has no plan for an IPO, but it is currently making enough money to end the need to raise the capital. To respond to critics claiming Facebook is not profitable, Sandberg said it’s difficult to see because Facebook is private. Facebook is an “ad-based business,” which is how the company affords to remain free. The company is talking with advertisers about how to compete with TV for the primary way to promote brands and products.

"The actions you take are shared with the people the individual has chosen to share them with - everyone, friends or friends of friends. If I watch a TV commercial and I like it I might tell my husband sitting next to me and that's it.” Sandy Sandberg

Facebook Looking to Enter China Facebook is reportedly increasing its efforts to enter China this year. If Facebook enters China, it could undergo what Google is currently facing.

"We are interested in China, just as we are many other countries, and while we are studying and learning about them all, we have no specific plans for China at this time," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement, Marketwatch reports.

Facebook: Policies, Fan Pages, Rumors, & Dominos

• Facebook's New Policies Fail to Stop Ad Copy Misuse: last month Facebook started a new system to stop ads from using information from users' profiles such as age and location. 2 ads appeared to have slipped through the cracks: Bloomspot.com and the Scooter Store, as well as many others. Bloomspot would not take phonecalls, but emailed ClickZ and asked to not be included in their article. Facebook's ad system is part automatic and part human. In my opinion, I don't mind if Facebook ads target my age or location because that is information that I provided online, so if I am in a company's area and age range, why not have them reach me?? Taking away this advantage will hurt Facebook's advertisers since they will no longer be able to reach their ideal consumers.
• How to Build Engaging One-of-Kind Facebook Fan Pages: This will give you the step by step directions and tips to making a Facebook Fan Page that is successful and engaging. Requirements: time, planning, HTML knowledge, design skill, and imagination. Make your profile picture the full size (200 x 600 pixels); use a Facebook application to create different tabs; link your twitter in one of those tabs; participate in conversations; and spotlight your company's employees.
• Facebook Causes Syphilis and Craigslist Kills People: An article by Matthew Ingram, focuses on how people tend to believe everything they read online is true. Rumors found on mainstream media sites should be verified without sources before claiming them as true. This rumor begain in British papers then online then to social networks. The source of the rumor began with an interview of a British public health official in Teeside who shared his opinion that young people are having unprotected sex with "Facebook romps" aka people they converse with on Facebook. And syphillis rates are higher than before, and some people surveyed has met partners through Facebook and a lot of people in the area are Facebook users. I agree with Matthew, how can you link things? It's kind of funny how quickly social media allows rumors to spread; it's definately a great outlet for sharing news and information, but when information is false, it is difficult to control the info flow.
• New York City Public Relations Firm Offers Tips on Blog Promotion: A blogger from a NYC PR firm offered some insight to reaching blog readers. She reccommends using Facebook and LinkedIn to spread your blog's name. Each time a blog is posted, a link should be shared on social media outlets; everything should remain parallel for maxiumum outreach.
• The ‘Dominos’ Effect: Pay Attention to your Customers, A View from the Brand Perspective: this article follows a journey of a brand- Dominos- through social media. Chris Brandon in charge of PR operations and social media was interviewed. Dominos has been engaging with consumers through social media for a year and a half, and now is using social media more than before. They looked on Twitter/Facebook/Blogs to see what consumers were saying about their pizza, and noticed the need for improvements, so they listened. Chris also points out that social media helps Dominos communicate with customers directly now, which they couldnt before. After 45 mins of the Spring 2009 YouTube posting of an employee unsanitarily cooking, the company knew of the video and immediately distributed still shots nationwide to figure out the culprits in the video. They were found before the day was over and the store was closed, the franchise's owner, the police, and the health department were notified. YouTube wouldn't remove the video because Dominos was not the copyright owner. I find Domino's response a good example of how to react in time's of crisis; I do not understand why YouTube would not remove the video however and understand why the company issued a response on YouTube featuring Domino's PRESIDENT. Domino's still is using social media channels to connect with customers which is helping repair the company's image. They have since told employees that they cant photograph/video anything on Domino's property without permission. Chris believes social media is still young in terms of communcation and marketing tools and will still expand. The brand promotes open and honest interaction with fans. Advice to big brands trying social media is to stay current because social media is always changing. The article and interview end with this is a new consumer-led era; which is true because due to social media, consumers have more control and power.

Facebook Updates

YouTube Steps Up Facebook Integration, Shows Shared Videos
Over the weekend, YouTube announced it's now allowing users to see what YouTube videos their friends are sharing on Facebook. When you log in on YouTube you can connect with Facebook and see Recent Activity of your friend's videos. YouTube's blog says that they plan to integrate more social networks with the site. When YouTube videos are shared on social networks, it happens at real-time.

Facebook Ad Model Is Friend to Small Firms

Facebook allows advertisers to target specific audiences based on the personal information that's shared collected from users' profiles. This was something that I had noticed, but never thought about before, advertisers can type in an age range, location, keywords, gender, etc. to reach their consumers, and the article even says: birthdays, geography, interests, education level and connections. I also was always curious about the price of advertising on Facebook. Facebook has different payment options: "pay per impression" is based on the number of times the ad is viewed by users; and "pay per click" is based on the number of times users click on the ad to visit the company's website. Advertisers set a daily budget, and Facebook removes the ad when the daily limit is reached.

Now it gets complicated. The cost of ads is based on similiar ads competing for page appearances in an automatic auction. Facebook ads have no set costs, but if you allot a high daily budget, then your ad will appear more frequently. IF the ad loses the auctions, and the daily budget is not reached, the leftover money will go towards tommorrow's budget (as Carmen Nobel compared to roll over cell phone minutes).

Ads are simple with just a photo and minimal text. The challenge is getting users to click on the ad; successful methods include funny ads, online scavenger hunts, and puppies.

Facebook to Change "Become a Fan" to "Like" on Fan Pages

Become a fan will soon become the more popular "like" button. Clickz reported that Facebook hasd sent confidential emails to ad agencies about the change to give them advance notice to change their advertising strategies and telling consumers to "find us on facebook" or "like us on facebook." The "like" button will be different than the current like button, and research has shown that people are more opt to like something than become a fan currently.

Social Media: 5 Rules, Facebook Tops Google, Effect on Olympics

• The 5 Basic Rules for Social Media was a blog post that was prompted by Nestle stating that it is interactive dialogue that could work well or fail. Nestle serves as a perfect example of what NOT to do and the debate is still not over.
• Because social media is always changing, some of the main things Facebook page administrators should do are:

1. update posts regularly and respond to fans' posts;
2. allow both positive and negative comments & respond timely to each (by allowing both you're establishing credibility & authenticity);
3. ask questions to get audience engaged;
4. post on other pages & profiles;
5. and include personal info to help fans understand you and your company.
   
   

• As of March 15, 2010, Facebook passed Google and became the most visited site in the US. Last week, out of all web visits, Facebook made up 7.07% while Google had 7.03% (Source) Although, this is only a slight margin, I believe that Facebook's user base is still expanding. Since September 15, 2007, Google has remained the top website. From this time last year, Facebook's total visits have increased 185%, but Google has only grown 9%.
• Another article stated Facebook may be the top visited website, but Facebook's revenues are estimated to be around $1 billion which is only one-third of Google's revenues (Source). Chris Dixon wrote that Google has a revenue made up of the perfect combination because people frequently visit the site, leave fast, and sometimes have intent to purchase something. While on the other hand, Facebook has a lot of visitors who socialize not purchase anything or click on ads. "Facebook is like a Starbucks where everyone hangs out for hours but almost never buys anything." I found this article interesting because most of the articles I come across just talk about the importance of social media, the expansion of social media, but not really about the Facebook corporation.
  
  
• Social Media Impacted the Olympics! NBC believes that social media is the reason more people tuned in this year to the Super Bowl, the Grammy’s and Winter Olympics (Source). Facebook fans could interact with one another on the Olympics fan page, congratulations to winners, and information about events were exchanged through social media outlets (YouTube, Twitter, and Blogs) The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics topped the 1996 Olympics as the most popular foreign winter games to watch because of social media's impact. In February, Facebook had surpassed more than 400 million members that month and Twitter had 50 million posts daily.

• I found another article examining Facebook's worth. Every month 400 million people visit the site; half visit daily. 48% of users check Facebook from their bed nightly (Source). Facebook's advertisements are growing because of virtual games gaining users and brands making Facebook pages. "Pay With Facebook" gives Facebook 30% of the virtual goods market on their site and could become a one-click payment option online. The site calculated Facebook's value around $35 billion through calculating its share price and the total estimation of fully diluted shares.
  
  
• IRWebReport published an article about a survey of influences on investors. Blogs and websites are the top influencers, but for those investors under 40, they are influenced by friends, family, and coworkers (Source). This indicates the importance of sharing info on social network to IR professionals.

Nestle is in a Crunch

Nestle's Facebook Fan Page is filled with ex-customers now boycotting the brand and voicing their opinions and alternative shopping lists. On Search.Twitter.com, I found a tweet "skidwell: a lesson 4 sure RT @mahumbaba: The Nestle PR problem gives Facebook "fans" a new meaning. They're not always friends" Which shows that using the social media outlet is good for fans in this sense, but not the company. Nestle buyers who weren't aware of the company's current issues were notified on their Facebook home page as long as they were "fans" of Nestle."

The IRWebReportBlog's author has a good point saying that the company could do a better job monitoring the Facebook fan page to fix their own company image and present all of the facts and changes for the future. Right now the fans are controlling the Facebook page, Nestle's administrators need to regain control of the information flow. And also, that if company's take this example as a reason to refrain from social media, we the consumers are the losers, not the company. I am interested to see Nestle's comeback to win back prior customers.

Green Peace's Website offers the Full Story. In my marketing class last semester we developed a new product for Kraft, the second largest food company, behind Nestle. The company's use of palm oil has doubled over the last 3 years. The company instead of establishing a green way of production is highly destructing the rainforest and its inhabitants. I know that I will stop buying Nestle and I will pass this news on to friends and family. On each website there are ways for the reader to contact the company, and different means of voicing their opinion on the issue, which only adds to the importance of these trending social media outlets.

Nestle removed the YouTube video by Green Peace and objectors voiced their opinions and reposted the video using Facebook and Twitter. Nestle once had negative buzz for marketing baby food to poor mothers, however social media causes information to spread quickly, and the whole Nestle fanbase is still spreading the word.

2 Weeks of Google Alerts

" Facebook has become an online

home to many people of all ages "(Source).

• On my Google Alerts, John Greenlaw's Blog came up with a post about the biggest challenge with IR and social media. (Source) After disclosing and posting information, it is available to billions of people. What is said about your company should be monitored and IR should build a positive image to promote their company. However, online freedom allows IR practitioners to damage control, but ultimately they cannot control information or opinions shared by others outside of the organization.
• A blog about Corporate Reporting to Stakeholders wrote about Investor Relations and Social Media Usage. In September 2009, IR Alert conducted a survey of IR professionals and their usage of social media.
  Results: 270 participants, 60% of industry uses social media in some way (especially smaller firms). Only 12% of IR & CFO said they use social media to disclosure financial information to shareholders & the market. Conference Calls & Press Releases are used to communicate information to shareholders & the market; 6.3% use corporate blog. Twitter is the most used social network and LinkedIn is growing.(Source)* I would be interested to see if the study was conducted again if the results would differ; especially with the introduction of Google Buzz. The study was done 6 months ago and popularity of social media sites is still growing.
• Managing Shareholder Engagement on Facebook. Public companies use Facebook to communicate with shareholders release company or industry news, and provide useful links. Mike and Trina Elliot from NETGENPR shared their social media strategy. In their Discussion Board section of their Facebook page they have a topic "Removed Posts Board" where the posts from the wall are archived and explained why they were inappropriate and hence removed. Mike emphasized that using social media is more than sending out random posts, but the purpose must also match business objectives. He also stressed you must be diplomatic and monitor social media in order to build your company's image and work towards achieving company objectives. Terms and Conditions should also be published so fans know posts violating guidelines will be removed. This was an area I had never thought of; you would assume posts would simply be removed and not posted elsewhere and explained.
• A forum relating to tips on IR and social media. A tip posted was social media gives investors the chance to reach a greater audience on sites where they are already looking for info, and costing your company less. An authoritative voice should be used such sites
• Web Marketing Secrets of a Successful Internet Business Finally Revealed: This article gave tips to businesses about advantages/disadvantages of Pay Per Click advertising, Web 2.0 Marketing, offline advertising, and fax/email broadcasting.
• Social Media: Brand Breaking & Brand Breaking: Regarding social media, the author highlighted important tips for the CEO, CFO, COO, and CMO. When good/bad news happens - get facts & talking points released FAST; have a what-if strategy incase something does happens; make sure legal team understands social media; person in charge of social media should be tech and business savvy; social media strategy should be on the same lines as media strategy; monitor!; and quality will filter out noise on the internet.
• Thoughts about Social Media Marketing eMarketer predicted the future of social media, "As social media becomes truly integrated into all marketing efforts, the strongest business models in the future will incorporate analytics, the TV, in addition, will become more social as will search. Location will become more important to social media, and brand monitoring will increase in sophistication so that companies can begin to understand the "why" of consumer chatter as well as the who, what and when." Social media gives little companies a chance to compete through exposure against major companies.
• PR Firms Survive Difficult Year: During tough economic times, the PR budget is the 1st one cut or maybe even eliminated, which ultimately can harm market share and brand recognition. This also gives an advantage to competitors who don't downsize their PR staff.
• Facebook Founder Wont Rush IPO: Zuckerberg said the company will go public EVENTUALLY because of their promise to investors and employees, but there is no rush to do so. Facebook does not require cash to build factories or for marketing efforts. Zuckerberg said they don't need the capital and the pressures are different. Rejected offers include Yahoo for $1billion and Microsoft for $8billion.
• Microsoft to Pull Facebook & Myspace into Outlook: This add-on software will be called Outlook Social Connector. Users can read emails, and the pane fills with recent social media activities like Facebook status updates and professional contacts on LinkedIn. This software will allow senders and receivers jointly working on a document on the company's server to receive updates if one has made edits. The LinkedIn plug-in is already available, but Facebook and Myspace won't be available until June when Office 2010 is released. A concern is that this will make employees less productive because of the accessibility. Office's VP Will Kennedy said, "We don't want this to sort of be the next great time waster in the workplace."
• I read a NY Times article about a Blogging Bootcamp for Moms, where during the conference participants were told they were permitted to tweet. (Source) Normally, you are advised to turn off cell phones during business conferences, so it is neat to see tweeting actually recommended.

Webinar Replay

I just finished re-watching the Webinar Replay – Monitoring Social Media for Investor Relations (found here). Richard Brewer-Hay from eBay and Serena Ehrlich from Startup Army addressed many popular questions facing companies' usage of social media.

This is an important area of interest because as the slideshow says 67% of the worldwide online population use social networks & blogs.

Some key points were to monitor social media websites to see what is being said about your company.

• If financial analysts begin to follow you on Twitter, follow them back.
• http://www.socialmention.com/ allows you to search for your company name.
• Use http://www.search.twitter.com/ to read about what Twitter users are saying about your company.
• search your company name followed negative words like hate, sucks or bad.
• http://www.peoplebrowsr.com/ is a web-based application that can be used to browse your company's mentionings.
• do not forget to read about conversations involving competitors. Examine websites with negative mentions of your company to see if they receive a lot of site traffic to determine if it is worth spending time on. It will take time to determine if a source is credible, but over time relationships and connections with your company's community will form over time, as well as credibility.
• It is important for you to invest time and personal input into social media because it will payback
• Although, discretion is advised because not everyone wants a response from the company, some are merely complaining.
• Social Mention breaks down if what was said is positive or negative.
• People Browsr provides plug ins that allow you to download charts of the data found to present right to your managament.
• Tweet Deck allows you to schedule when tweets will be posted.
• Both professionals recommend to use two computer monitors.

Richard used the quote "fish where you're fishing" to help narrow down where to look for your company's name mentioned on the endless amount of social media sites. Richard engages with anyone and everyone on these sites because that is what social media is for.

Companies have different reasons for engaging in social media, Richard at eBay uses them to promote brand advocacy; other reasons could be to increase site traffic, increase media interest, to get your company's message out there, and to reduce advertising expenses.

Random Articles

"Twitter's user ranks grew more than 1,000% last year, according to Nielsen Online. And Facebook, despite its size, grew more than 200% (source)"


"Many professionals have bought into the belief that anyone who can use a Flip camera, build a Facebook page or make a few Twitter updates a day can now do PR. (source)"
This article I found interesting because it shoots down the concept that Public Relations is obsolete and social media is killing it, but rather PR is even more important with the growth of social media.

Kellogg Increases 2010 Ad Spend, Triples Social Media
Kellogg is planning to spend more money on ads in 2010 and triple its investment in social media efforts. They have seen success from investing in these sites already, especially their Pop-Tarts and Special K pages on Facebook.


21st Century Investor Relations Introduces Online Marketing Service
This service is called Investor Relations 2.0 which includes Internet and Web 2.0 platforms for Investors to use for their publicly traded companies for not just "outbound" strategies, but "inbound" tasks. Investors and stakeholders can use this online marketing service for content rich websites, social media marketing, and search engine optimization. IR 2.0 will deliver direct and effective messages to the target audiences. This takes advantage of the internet's speed and outreach to improve stock price reliability and raise site traffic. This site was based off of social media and includes blogs, social networks, videos, and other web applications.

Twitter and Facebook part of Costa Rica election
Not only did a woman become leader of the country, but social networks were used during the election process. Users of these sites posted thier comments and opinions about the issues and candidates, polling atmosphere, and pictures. #votocr was the most used Spanish word on Twitter on election day. Around 1,000 tweets were posted every hour relating to the election. On Facebook, La Nacion's profile received 250 comments and candidates' profiles received comments. When the polls closed, Costa Rica's electoral authority "Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones" tweeted their voting count updates. Residents of Costa Rica used the popular sites to discuss important issues and express their views. I found this interesting because I don't remember hearing anything like this about the recent Presidential election, but I have noticed a greater presence of politicians on Facebook. The article ended with Costa Rica has the highest internet penetration in Central America of more than 1/3rd the population. Finding that interesting, I looked up the US's internet penetration which is close to 4 times of Costa Rica's.

TradeStream Your Way to Profits: Building a Killer Portfolio in the Age of Social Media
Zack Miller wrote this book about the changes and opportunities for investors, financial advisors, and IR professionals on the world wide web. His book shows how to make use of social media and profit. There are how-to's on investing for long term through streaming info, tips, and other tools available on internet financial social media; tips from experts; and new tools to sort through data and how it applies to you. The Internet has evolved regarding researching investments which the book goes into and how you can use these changes to benefit.

Changes on Facebook

After watching the Webinar in class, I learned the importance of businesses staying current with the latest social networking websites. I did not know that companies had software or programs to help them monitor what people are saying about them to keep effective 2 way communication. It was interesting that they recommended searching your company's name followed by sucks or hates.

In the social media world - Facebook took away advertisement from Microsoft. Bing is the search provider. Facebook gets more page views than Microsoft or Yahoo now. AIM is also integrated with Facebook Chat. There have been several changes to the popular social networking site as of recently!

The most interesting article from this week is about a Yale University graduate and Warren Buffett. She was unknown and young, but received an invitation to dinner and receive more exposure because of it. She posted a picture of them together on her Facebook.

Facebook is NOT face to face - relationships can be formed or reunited, but some messages may be lost in translation over the world wide web. It is important to focus other IR campaigns on other non-electronic outlets, and not solely the internet to reach consumers or investors. However, Facebook has a huge potential to reach members of the online audience and should be used by businesses.

Need for Speed - This blogger, IRWebReport, is tracking over 600 companies via Twitter and noticed that these companies do not integrate their tweets with website postings. One media outlet can be neglected for minutes or hours. By doing so, they are not being effective or consistent in reaching their followers or fans. This was an interesting blog post to me because I had not thought of consistently and simultaneously releasing information across all outlets to keep investors and IR professionals in the loop.

To sum it up, social media will not be going away anytime soon. It will keep becoming more popular and expanding around the world as greater technology is developed. Companies not taking advantage of these outlets and missing reaching potential consumers and investors. When integrating your company on a Facebook page it is important to keep the information fresh and fun to keep those interested informed including links to your website, articles, and resources. Especially with older generations joining the Facebook bandwagon.

A Week of New Websites

3 new websites were released this week: Google Buzz, DearCEO, and U-Swirl.

Google opens new social hub in face-off with Facebook

On Tuesday, Google created "Google Buzz," which contains many of Facebook's features. It was released after Facebook changed their own site around again. This site will be available to Gmail users. Similarities with Facebook include: users can post updates, pictures, videos, and links. When using a cellphone with Google Buzz, users can see others' updates in the same location.

I did not know that Google had previously released a social networking site called "Orkut" 6 years ago before Facebook was started. This site never really reached many people outside of Brazil. Google is certain that Google Buzz will not flop like Orkut did. The site promises to remove the clutter and only have updates that reach each users' interests, which is a current advantage over Facebook. How the site will do this I am interested to know.

Google and Facebook remain direct competition. Facebook may be releasing an email service in the near future. In 2007, Facebook sold a 1.6% stake to Microsoft. And Sheryl Sandberg, a former Google advertising executive became Facebook's chief operating officer.

Along with many others, I am curious to see how Google Buzz will do. Google is the leading search engine, but will people make the switch from Facebook to Google? Google has more power, but among social networks Facebook holds the most popularity. It will be interesting to see the site develop and the people that become users.

Website to make contacting CEOs easier

A website launched last week called DearCEO will allow investors to quiz company representatives, send queries to companies, reply from the company to site users, and provide info to small investors. The site sends questions through email to the company's chief executive and if there is no answer the email is then sent to a generic IR contact.

I think that this site can be useful for all IR professionals because I feel that the site simplifies IR tasks and makes all information available in one place. The site is free which is also an advantage and is set up like a FAQ system. Although it is not directly related to Facebook, I find it similar because it is bringing IR professionals together. On the site's statistics it says there are 2,269 members and 2,210 companies, which is very impressive for a site that is only a week old.

Healthy Fast Food Unveils New Website at U-SWIRL.com
U-Swirl is frozen yogurt and its new site provides details about their tasty treat. It links to their Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. The site currently provides info about franchising, and key investor, stock market, and corporate governance about Healthy Fast Food. Future plans for the site are to have a stronger IR platform, in-store videos, customer testimonials, franchise case studies, and many more.

This press release emphasizes the importance of staying up to date on current online trends. Just launching a website is not enough anymore, there need to be links to social media outlets. I found it interesting that even a company that is viewed as a dessert needs to stay up-to-date in the online world. I am interested to see the site evolve more in an IR prospective.

Week 2

On my Google Alerts for my last name, I normally receive news about my father (Daniel) who is a politician or my cousin (David) who is a athlete at Tufts University. Professor Laskin had emailed me to inform me that someone had commented about my blog, and I finally received a Google Alert pertaining to me! It's very neat how I had only written one post about my semester long topic and someone already noticed. I never would have guessed anyone in the Investor Relations world would be interested in my blog and am honored.
I also then realized that I am a Facebook business fan page admistrator. My dad put me in charge of updating the family business's fan page (here). Although, I still cannot seem to convince him to advertise to gain more fans, because the fans are mostly the year round locals instead of the summer tourists. I am interested in how much it would cost to get the page more exposure. I will admit it is difficult to update the page while I am away at school, but I try my best to keep the page fun and fresh.

So now to what is happening with Facebook in this week's Google Alerts. Companies mentioned include: HardwareGeeks.com, Aruba Networks, Candidate Debra Medina, Hawk Associates, The Cheese Cake Factory, First Mariner Bancorp, government relations page, Healthy Coffee International, Asana, Zappos, Visa, and California Pizza Kitchen.

Some unrelated interesting articles were also included, one about The Impact of Social Media on Communications Recruiting, one about Facebook and Twitter Causing Students to fail English now, and one about Moms on Facebook.

A FREE Webinar about Social Media & IR is coming up on February 11th.
I also learned that the Kid's/Tween's version of Facebook is kidswirl.com.

After coming across familiar names and new names, I thought of the idea, what if i go to Facebook and search "investor relations." The search results include 3 groups simply titled "investor relations" and three web results including Google, National Investor Relations Institute, and Apple.

Readings and Google Alerts

Going into this class I did not know much about Investor Relations but I am interested in Corporate Communications. I am a Public Relations major, and would like to find out more. The topic I decided to focus on is Investor Relations and Facebook. I enjoyed reading Professor Laskin's article because it included the history and evolution of IR.

It is interesting the variety of organizations that have to manage a Facebook page as well as their own websites. A range of different companies were included in Google Alerts so far: Green Energy Live Inc(GELV), JBI, on24, China's Wind, Comcast, OCZ Technology Group, National Autism Association, Monster, Blackboard, OpenSkies, Dish Network, MarineMax, and Procter & Gamble.
Facebook even spread breast cancer awareness when female's made news by putting their bra color as their status.

Facebook privacy settings have changed once again, making users' information, statuses, and pictures more public. The article can be found here. Facebook has 54.5 million users in the US so companies can reach and target their audience through the social network. Many links I receive in my daily Google Alert email, are not useful because a link somewhere on the page says "investor relations" and then after the article it says share on "facebook." I may need to change my search terms.

Disclaimer

The author of this blog is Sarah Beyel. This is a student's blog for the Investor Relations class at Quinnipiac University taught by Professor Laskin. The author of this blog makes no representation as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on "as-is" basis. Opinions expressed on this blog are the author's personal opinions and do not represent opinion of the Quinnipiac University or opinion of Professor Laskin. The blog will focus on the issue of Investor Relations and Facebook.