Well, that was meta. Early this afternoon I was sitting in a Manhattan McDonald’s sipping a Dollar Menu cup of coffee and using their free WiFi when I noticed that Burger King, McDonald’s and Whopper had all hit Twitter’s Trending Topics chart at the same time. What the? Didn’t take me long to suss out the fact that Burger King’s official Twitter account, @BurgerKing, had been hacked — and turned into a supposed McDonald’s account, to the great delight of the Twittersphere. In place of the BK logo: McD’s familiar golden arches.

The tweet that kicked things off at 12:01 p.m. read “We just got sold to McDonalds! Look for McDonalds in a hood near you @DFNCTSC.” (@DFNCTSC is a Twitter account with no tweets; DFNCTSC apparently stands for Defonic Team Screenname Club, aka the Defonic Crew — a hacker collective associated with breaching Paris Hilton’s T-Mobile account back in 2005.) The tweet right before that one was a legitimate @BurgerKing tweet published at noon on Sunday — a promo for a buy-one-get-one deal on BK’s Original Chicken Sandwich — which suggests that Burger King’s social-media team had planned to go dormant on Monday in observance of Presidents’ Day.

Hacks of high-profile corporate Twitter accounts are usually detected quickly, but it took a full hour for Burger King and/or Twitter to notice and shut things down. In the meantime, @BurgerKing issued a steady stream of profane and/or inscrutable tweets (e.g., “FUCK A TOOKA GANG BITCH IM #300 @ChiefKeef” — Chief Keef is a Chicago rapper; that’s a lyric of his that apparently references South Side street gangs). A tweet published at 12:15 (and retweeted more than a hundred times) read “We caught one of our employees in the bathroom doing this… #soldtomcdonalds #failurewhopper @McDonalds” and included a link to a Twitter pic of a young man sticking a needle in his arm.

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The Super Bowl was a good night for Twitter, which had the most talked-about ad of the evening Oreos’s response to the black-out — published to its platform. But a different major advertiser whose social media “war room” was also at 360i’s lower Manhattan headquarters had its tweet-posting operation halted for two critical primetime hours due to an obscure Twitter rule.

Coca-Cola was unable to post tweets from its main Twitter handle between 8:22 p.m. and 10 p.m. eastern time because it had exceeded the publishing limit that Twitter sets on daily and hourly tweets, which is intended to curb spam. (The official daily tweet cap is 1,000, which “is further broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals,” and the rules apply to brands with millions of followers and individual users with 10 alike.)

Since Coca-Cola was using its Twitter handle to thank individual users for voting in a game linked to its “Mirage” TV ad, it had anticipated topping the standard limit. The company had filed paperwork with Twitter to raise its tweet ceiling for Super Bowl Sunday on the Friday prior, according to a Coca-Cola spokeswoman, who wouldn’t disclose what the limit was raised to.

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If you build a Facebook Page, will fans come? This is the great hope for many businesses. However, fans do not magically appear from the Facebook mist.

People must be lured to your fan page. And there are some good and bad ways to go about doing this. In this article, I’ll share a big myth and 21 ways to drive more fans to your Facebook fan page. (Though Facebook recently changed the “Become A Fan” button to the new, omnipresent “Like” button – and a fan page is called a “Business Page” or “Facebook Page” – we can still call them fan pages and people who join are fans!)

The Big Myth

There’s a great myth that once you create a Facebook fan page for your business, the first thing you should do to get fans is invite ALL your friendsfrom your personal profile using the “Suggest to Friends” feature.

Unfortunately, this strategy may not be that effective and can, in fact, often backfire. I have seen many industry gurus complain that when they decline a fan page request, it’s frustrating to continue to be asked again and again.

There are several reasons not to use the Suggest to Friends feature:

• Facebook users can only like up to 500 pages and may wish to be selective. (Though I have seen it’s possible to go over this limit).
• Fan page suggestions may often build up, unnoticed. (At last count, I have 593 overlooked fan page suggestions and am already a fan of 500!)
• To aggressively pursue all your friends to join your fan page – for no apparent incentive – is counterintuitive to the nature of social media.

So, the good news is there are many ways to promote your fan page and proactively increase your fan base without bugging all your current Facebook friends, and also by thinking wider than just Facebook.

Here are 21 ways to get more fans for your Facebook fan page:

#1: Embed Widgets on Your Website

Select from a number of the new Facebook Social Plugins and place them on your website and blog. The Fan Box widget is now the Like Box and it works well to display your current fan page stream and a selection of fans - see screenshot below with Whole Foods Market Facebook Like Box. I would recommend adding a title above the box encouraging visitors to your site/blog to click the “Like” button (which makes them a Facebook fan).

Whole Foods Market Facebook Like Box.

You might also consider the Live Stream widget for more advanced uses, particularly on an FBML custom tab of your fan page itself. The Live Stream widget allows Facebook users to add their comments to a live event, for example, and that activity pushes out into their stream.

#2: Invite Your Email and Ezine Subscribers

Assuming you have an opt-in email list, definitely send out an invitation to your subscribers via email (several times, over time) letting them know about your fan page and encouraging them to join. Ideally, provide them with a description of the page and an incentive to join.

Be sure to have the Facebook logo/badge appear in your HTML newsletters. Instead of the usual “Join our Fan Page,” say something creative like “Write on our Facebook wall,” or “Join our Facebook community,” or “Come add your photo to our Facebook group” (where “group” is actually your fan page). Users have to be a fan in order to interact with your fan page in this way.

#3: Add to Your Email Signature Block

Instead of promoting your Facebook personal profile (if you do), include a link to your fan page in every email you send out. If you use web-based email, check out the Wisestamp signature addon.

#4: Make a Compelling Welcome Video

Create an attractive landing tab (canvas page) with a video that explains exactly a) what your fan page is about, b) who it’s for and c) why they should become members.  The result: you’ll increase your conversion rate from visitors to fans. One ofmy favorite fan page welcome videos is by Steve Spangler, the Science Guy! After watching his video, you can’t help but want to join!

(By the way, with the new Facebook changes, if your custom welcome tab and video talk about clicking the “Become A Fan” button, you may want to change the wording to “click the Like button” now).

#5: Use Facebook Apps

I recently tested a new live video-streaming app called Vpype. The app adds a tab to your fan page called “Shows” and when you broadcast as your fan page, everyone can view by default. (You can also broadcast as your personal profile and selectively invite friends/friend lists). I wrote up a review of this app here. By announcing via Twitter, your personal Facebook profile, your blog and your email list,you can broadcast regular live Internet TV shows from your fan page and create much buzz.

Another example of app integration is Target’s “Bullseye Gives” campaign. Target had their fans vote on which of ten charities they most wanted to see the company donate to. By voting, a post goes out onto your Facebook wall and into the News Feeds of all your friends, thus providing Target with valuable exposure. (For custom apps, see companies like Buddy Media, FanAppz, Wildfire Apps, Involver,Virtue, Context Optional.) [UPDATE: Thank you to Context Optional, the creators ofTarget’s “Bullseye Gives” campaign!]

#6: Integrate the Facebook Comment Feature

My favorite example of this is the t-shirt company Threadless. On their landing tab (canvas page), you can view and purchase t-shirts as well as Like and comment on any item and choose to have that comment posted to your Facebook profile, as shown in this screenshot:

(Screenshot of Threadless Facebook Fan Page landing tab)

Threadless actually has their landing tab set up so visitors don’t have to become a fan to purchase/comment/interact. Yet they have organically built well over 100,000 fans.

As users comment on items, that activity is pushed out into their stream (profile wall and their friends’ News Feeds), which creates valuable viral visibility for your fan page.

For further information on adding the comment box to your FBML page/app, see thesepages.

#7: Get Fans to Tag Photos

If you host live events, be sure to take plenty of photos (or even hire a professional photographer), load the photos to your fan page and encourage fans to tag themselves. This, again, pushes out into their wall and friends’ News Feeds, providing valuable (free!) exposure. And, a picture says a thousand words – we notice the thumbnails in our feed more than text. (Props to Nick O’Neil for this tip.)

#8: Load Videos and Embed on Your Site

Facebook’s Video feature is extremely powerful. You can load video content to your Facebook fan page, then take the source code and embed on your blog/website. There is a “Become a Fan” button right in the video itself. For an excellent tutorial, see Nick O’Neil’s post: How To Get Thousands of Facebook Fans With a Single Video.

[UPDATE: Since Facebook changed the Become a Fan button to the Like button,embedded Facebook videos now display a white watermark hotlink of the Facebook name in the upper left corner of the video player - see first screenshot below. This is a clickable link that goes to the original video page on your fan page. If the visitor to your site clicks through to Facebook from your video, and they are logged into Facebook at the time, they will see a Like button at the top left corner of the video player - see second screenshot below.]

(Screenshot shows example of an embedded Facebook video on an external site)

(Screenshot shows the same video on the original page of the fan page with the Like button)

#9: Place Facebook Ads

Even with a nominal weekly/monthly budget, you should be able to boost your fan count using Facebook’s own social ad feature. It’s the most targeted traffic your money can buy. To buy an ad, scroll to the foot of any page inside Facebook and click the link at the very bottom that says “Advertising.” From there, you can walk through the wizard and get an excellent sense of how many Facebook users are in your exacttarget market.

Then, when you advertise your fan page, Facebook users can become a fan (click the Like button) right from the ad as shown in the screenshot below. Additionally, Facebook displays several of your friends who have already liked you, thus creating social proof.

My book with Chris Treadaway, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day (Sybex) contains comprehensive instructions on maximizing your marketing through Facebook social ads.

#10: Run a Contest

This is somewhat of a gray area because Facebook changed theirPromotional Guidelines last year. Essentially, you need prior written permission from Facebook and need to be spending a significant amount on ads per month. However, you CAN require Facebook users to become a fan of your fan page in order to enter a contest, sweepstakes, drawing or competition. See these two postsfor further explanation. PLUS, good news: you CAN run contests and sweepstakes with the use of the apps created by Wildfire App.

#11: Link to Twitter

Link your Twitter account to your Facebook fan page and automatically post your Facebook content to Twitter. You can edit what gets posted, choosing from Status Updates, Photos, Links, Notes and Events.

You have 420 characters on the Facebook publisher and 140 on Twitter. In the tweet that goes out, Facebook truncates your post past a certain character count and inserts a bit.ly link back to your fan page. To track click-through stats on that link, just paste the bit.ly link that Facebook created for you in your browser’s address bar and add a “+” sign to the end. This works for any bit.ly link!

I also recommend you promote your Facebook fan page on your Twitter background and possibly in your Twitter bio/URL field too.

#12: Get Fans to Join Via SMS

Your fans can join your fan page via text message! You’ll need to get your first 25 fans and secure your username. Then, to join your fan page, Facebook users just send a text message to 32665 (FBOOK) with the words “fan yourusername” OR “like yourusername” (without the quotes).

This feature is ideal when you’re addressing a live audience, say. Have everyone pull out their mobile phones and join your fan page on the spot! This would also work well for radio or TV. (Note that this only works for Facebook users with a verified mobile device in his or her account.)

#13: Use Print Media

Look at every piece of print media you use in your business. Your Facebook fan page (as well as Twitter and any other social sites you’re active on), should be clearly displayed. Put your Facebook fan page link (and the logo) on your business cards, letterhead, brochure, print newsletter, magazine ads, products, etc.

#14: Display at Your Store/Business

If your business is run from physical premises, put a placard on the front deskletting your customers know you’re on Facebook. Ideally, you have a simple, memorable username. Incentivize customers to join right away via their mobile device and show you/your staff the confirmation for some kind of instant reward!

You might give out physical coupons promoting your fan page. For restaurants, put the Facebook logo, your username and a call to action on your menus.

I was at a hotel in San Francisco last fall and they had a placard in the elevators promoting their presence on Facebook and Twitter. The sign was very noticeable because of those ubiquitous Facebook and Twitter logos/colors!

#15. Add a Link on Your Personal Profile

If you’d like to promote your fan page to your Facebook friends, just under your photo on your personal profile there is a section to write something about yourself. I call this the “mini bio” field and strongly suggest adding a link to your fan page like so:

Be sure to format the URL with http:// otherwise it will not be clickable with just the www’s. You have a limited amount of characters, so keep it succinct and leave out the www’s. You can put in hard line breaks though to make the content easier to read.

#16: Add a Badge/Button to Your Profile

Using an app like Profile HTML or Extended Info, you can create your own custom HTML, including a Facebook badge and/or graphic embedded, as shown in the screenshot below:

#17: Use the Share Button

The Share button is all over Facebook and is a very handy feature. It only works for sharing on your personal profile. So periodically go to your fan page, scroll toward the bottom left column and click the “Share+” button. Add a compelling comment along the lines of exciting news, recent changes, special incentives, etc., happening on your fan page and invite your friends to join if they haven’t already. I find the Share button far more effective than the Suggest to Friends approach. (And, if you’d like to Share content from the web on to your fan page vs. profile, I highly recommend using theHootlet bookmarklet tool at HootSuite.com).

#18: Use the @ Tag

As long as you’re a fan of your own fan page, you can “@ tag” it on your own personal profile wall. From time to time, you can let your friends know about something happening on your fan page by writing a personal status update that includes tagging your fan page with an @ tag. Simply start typing the “@” symbol and the first few letters of your fan page name (this works whether you have your username registered or not), and it will appear from a drop-down menu to select. This then makes it a nice, subtle hyperlink that your friends can choose to click on.

#19: Autograph Posts on Other Walls

A subtle way to gain more visibility for your fan page is to add an @ tag for your fan page when writing on your friends’ walls as a way to sign off.

I would use this one sparingly and, again, monitor the response from your friends. I have never been a fan of adding a signature block on Facebook wall posts because our name and profile picture thumbnail are always hyperlinked right back to our profile anyway. But the simple @ tag could be effective.

#20: Autograph Other Fan Pages

As with adding your fan page @ tag to posts you make on your friends’ walls, you could equally use the same technique when posting on other fan pages. Thisneeds to be used with discretion and I would advise against doing this on any potentially competing fan page!

#21: Maybe Use “Suggest To Friends”

I won’t rule this one out completely as it does depend on how many friends you have, your relationship with your friends, how often you suggest fan pages/friends to your friends, etc (see ‘The Big Myth’ above). But I do recommend monitoring the response to this technique – perhaps simply by asking for feedback in your status update.

So, these are just 21 ways to create strategic visibility and promote your Facebook fan page.

Let’s hear from you.  Which ones have you implemented with success? Plus, do feel free to add any of your own creative promotional ideas in the comments box below!

From Google to Foursquare and Facebook, no social networking site escaped the wrath of privacy in 2010.  Just as social media exploded, so too did privacy breaches and privacy as a hot topic, as any consumer, congressman or Mark Zuckerberg can attest.  But now the official results are in:  Facebook and Twitter were the social networking sites most affected by security breaches in 2010.  What happened, and what’s next?

The findings come courtesy of Internet security company PandaLabsin its just-released “2010 Annual Security Report.”

The company warned that, overall, social media sites have become a “perfect working environment” for cybercriminals because Internet users, for now, place more trust in these sites than other online tools, like email.

In awarding Twitter and Facebook the dubious distinction of standing out from other networking sites security-wise, the report stated, “There are several techniques for tricking users: hickjacking Facebook’s “Like” button, stealing identities to send out messages from trusted sources, exploiting vulnerabilities in Twitter to run javascript code, distributing fake apps that redirect users to infected sites, etc..”

And, using those cyberattacks launched on Facebook and Twitter in 2010, PandaLabs also warned users of what’s to come.

“In 2011, not only will hackers continue to use these networks, but it is predicted that they will also be used more for distributed attacks,” the report said.

The company also warned of more “blended threats” in 2011 that would occur when a cyberattack strikes first through e-mail but then spreads to social media and the web.

The 2011 warning from PandaLabs is just the latest in what experts predict will be a bumpy year for Internet users and social networking executives alike.

Internet security company Proofpoint Inc. recently forecasted that at least one major social media site will experience a significant security breach in 2011, a likely outcome considering that nearly 23 percent of time spent online by Americans is spent on social networking sites.

Sources confirm that Twitter’s official Mac desktop app will be coming to the Mac App Store by tomorrow — which is also the Mac App Store’s official launch date.

RazorianFly reports it has received a mysterious, vague leak to the effect that the Twitter for Mac app will be launching tomorrow. A few features reported so far are native retweet support, real-time updates and drag-and-drop tweeting capabilities.

Tweetie maker Atebits was acquired by Twitter in the spring of 2010.

In a move that might spell trouble for some third-party Twitterdesktop clients, the app will simply be called “Twitter for Mac,” not “Tweetie 2.0″ or anything like that. Twitter’s name on an official app generally spells an uptick in adoption for the official app, never good news for third-party, single-service app makers.

Stay tuned for a full, hands-on review tomorrow. In the meantime, let us know what you think this will signify for makers of third-party Twitter apps for Mac.

Little Fockers and True Grit may have claimed first and second place at the Christmas box office, but TRON: Legacy is still tops on Twitter.

Real-time social media tracker Trendrr evaluated the top three films at the weekend box office from December 23 to 27. Despite coming in third place at the box office, TRON: Legacy continues to generate nearly twice as many tweets as either Little Fockers or True Grit.

Little Fockers grossed $30.8 million over the weekend and has a five-day total of $45.1 million. Critic favorite True Grit took in a truly impressive $24.9 million for the weekend — the best ever opening for a Coen Brothers film — and a five-day total of $36.8 million. The 10-day domestic tally for TRON: Legacy now stands at $88.3 million, with $20.1 million coming from the holiday weekend.

On Twitter, TRON is still king, with an average of 1,000 tweets per hour regarding the film. Trendrr tells us thatTrue Grit and Little Fockers barely managed to amass 500 tweets per hour, even on opening night.

It’s unclear what impact — if any — the weather is having on movie-related tweets, but the cold is havingnegative impact on the box office. The ongoing snowmageddon severely dampened box office receipts, which are down more than 44% from 2009. The Hollywood Reporter notes that theaters in New York City and Philadelphia reported 70% drops in ticket sales, while the expected windfall of Sunday moviegoers was thwarted by the worsening weather.

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Sentiment and Gender Breakdown

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Little Fockers

True Grit

TRON: Legacy

Little Fockers might be box office champion, but True Grit seems to have the true momentum. Number of tweets side, the sentiment analysis provided by Trendrr shows that the film has the lowest number of negative tweets. Predictably for a western, True Grit had more than twice as many tweets from male users as female. This figure aligns with the box office 70/30 split for the film. Expect the gender ratio to balance out a bit more as the film continues to build critical and audience buzz.

The family oriented Little Fockers had more female users tweeting than male, but the ratio split was still fairly close. The film also showed a positive sentiment of 68%, according to Trendrr, which is above the critical assessment for the third film in the Parents franchise.

1.Brands and blogging don’t enjoy a marriage made in heaven

Most of the brand Managers believe that web 2.0 means blogging about everything that there product posses, but is that the end of the story, unfortunately not. We all love going through blogs but we do not buy anything just because some corporate blog is talking about that, however instead of that if a human is talking about that then we certainly think about it. We are all human and we do posses doubting nature. Honestly speaking i never go through any corporate blog.

2.Blogging changes the writer’s behaviour more than it changes the readers’ behavior.

Truly I believe in this statement as i personally started thinking in a different way since i started writing. I had been an avid internet user since 1996 and i have seen internet growing very closely but till the time i did not decide to write my own my perspectives were different from what they are today. I started believing on my product since i started writing on my own however i never thought similar before.

3.If your brand is going to blog you need to understand what you want to change about it.

Blogging means truth, why does corporate sites started  implementing corporate blogs? The answer is simple the Gyan which companies were not able to deliver to prospects directly they started delivering via blogs. Most of the sites have there company’s CEO writing on the blog about how the company took shape and blah blah. they all boast about it but they still never take any heed to pay attention in improving what they are offering in the market. “After all our is baby is the best”

4.This is uncomfortable because brands usually like changing consumer behaviour not the other way round

Consumer loyalty, well that’s a word which in now found in museums, If any of the brand manager believes that his market is fixed or his consumers are loyal and never going to ditch his product , then i am sorry to say that they are at fault. Try a mistake in product and face the heat, Consumers are nothing but sex workers with choices, they have huge list of choices available in every category and thus they can kick your brand any given day out of there lives, Wait for your competition to offer them a better deal and you will realize this instantly.

5.There are no ‘old’ or ‘new’ media – there are communications media and social media

Media was media since inception , however now it has come up is a new incarnation, “Social Media”, we never this social since ages and then comes facebook and twitter era, and the world is now a small place. I still remember the days of Pen pal and then email friends and now we all know twitter followers.

6.Communications media are the natural habitat of brands

7.Their use of social media is problematic

This is the biggest problem area for brands, the in-efficiency of brand teams not because of there mechanism but because of the system in which they are programmed, where they are not allowed to think beyond boundaries. Most of the brands believe there presence on social media is mandate but still they are handicap to understand the way they should be present there. They are there just for the heck of it.

This is my favorite topic to talk , however i would discuss about this in my other post.

8.Social media demand that you trade control for influence

This is the gold mine if brand managers will understand this. Coke did it in the most remarkable way that any brand would have ever did it in the past , they ran a year long social activity , made there fans to come up with amazing videos about there love for coke, and what they did finally , they gave voice to all of them, They actually traded control for influence, and no wonder today they are number one fan page on facebook.

9.Unless brands are happy with this they should stay out of social media

Take this as advice as social media is dangerous, it can hamper your brand value if not done properly, there are so many hotels which ran out of business because of  Trip-Advisor.

10.Just use it to listen to the conversation

Never try to govern the community, its social and let it be social.

11.Social media is all about conversation

people love people, we still do not give preference to non living over living, recent survey shows that more than 70% people on facebook do what there friends do. make them talk about you by not bribing them but loving them.

12.Brands only have a role if they can make the conversation more interesting

Gratifications works best for brands, we all have seen the sales shooting up with every possible freebie associated with the product. No matter if its worth is few cents only.

A funny thing happened on the way to the top 10 this week marks the most tweeted table, collaboration between the age of advertising and this trend: One named Bustin Jieber started the trend on Twitter. What makes me a little freaked out, because in writing the April 26 edition of this article, I could not bring myself to write the words Justin and Bieber  once again, so I said Top joked that among this week Twitter subjects were  a boy named Bustin Jieber – or something like that.  Later that day, J-14, an entertainment magazine for tweens, ran a piece on its website entitled  J-14 Exclusive: What is the Jonas Brothers Really Think by Justin Bieber? It reads:  According to Jonas Brothers, there is only room for a JB on the block. Nick Jonas domed J-14 that he and his famous brothers have a nickname for the other JB, Bieber Justin. Bustin Jieber – it is what we call it,  Nick told us.

And so a meme is born – or new. (I am not sure what it says, that in my opinion, just like his brother Jonas.) But Bustin Jieber only really came good last Friday, when Justin Bieber suddenly disappeared incredibly Twitter Trending topics list. (Remember, this week, Justin Bieber back to number 1 spot on the Billboard album chart in its  My World 2.0  - for the fourth time this year was the biggest selling album in the country – so it’s not as if the His star is very weak.) It was the Twitter changed the secret to determine what freezes Performance topics list. Twitter offers this explanation posted on Friday, May 14 the Resource Guide as follows:

Twitter is what is happening now, and we recently updated our subjects tended accordingly algorithm. The new algorithm identifies the issues that are at once popular, rather than issues that have been popular for a while or every day, helping people discover other breaking news all over the world … We believe that the subjects that capture trends of the hottest new trends and topics on Twitter are the most interesting. This is going very well work in progress, with this trick we have taken a big step toward the capture of how trends emerge and grow rapidly in Twitter. We also believe it is essential to know what most popular items, and try to understand what kind of future.

Twitter published an explanation has been stated that 'It is important to note that this new algorithm does not  lock  all topics trends  (emphasis Twitter). But I looked at the raw data Trend tweet hours last weekend, and Justin Bieber was actually a surge dramatically, Twitter – was simply and quickly once popular Twitter is a new algorithm that must be measured and represented. A new algorithm for explanations aside, it is pretty clear that Twitter does not want Justin Bieber reveal trends – even if it was just a huge Twitter current moves effectively deny him.

Justin Bieber’s fans. No matter how many times they tweeted things like I tend Justin Bieber! the kid that People Magazine recently rated the world’s biggest pop star would not be fair trend.

As a fan solutions – which includes not only Bustin Jieber but Twieber.   Tweet Example:  Twieber: because the owner Bieber Twitter. As it is also frightening and disturbing, because in March, in a column-of-the-future entitled  The most influential brands of 2090  (this was the question 80th anniversary of Advertising Age) my little son, Simon Dumenco III, Back to 2010, when Justin Bieber has been  a little of what is called Twitter. … In 2011. 78% of all messages Twitter (aka tweets or what we now know as Bieber) was about Justin Bieber In 2012 this figure had risen to 94% – when Twitter endemic if advertisers had dropped to the database and Tampax Hot Topic, threw in the towel. Justin Bieber twitter acquired in 2012 for $ 1 and assumption of debt, then renamed [Bieber].

I’m kicking myself – or rather, I am my little unborn child kicks – not to think about the appeal of belonging to Twitter Twieber Bieber. In addition, fans of the pop star began while Twieber.com ( Find out what people are saying on Twitter about Justin Bieber Twieber) and Twieber.Shoutem.com (  So, basically, is Twitter Beliebers: Twieber ™ ! This site is for fans of Justin Bieber ONLY!).

The Big Question: Why Twitter to alienate many of his most passionate, active users – which happen to be the pop star’s fans world’s largest? Simple: every hour and every day people like Twitter Justin Bieber trend seems to be (in the eyes of the sellers of adults) a playground for tweens cracked stupid to hormones. And if that becomes the image of Twitter, well, I remember my, uh, little joke, son down to just Twitter advertisers Tampax and Hot Topic?

As it happens, however, smart people, what to monitor trends and develop all sorts of variations on themes of trend, so even if Twitter effectively ban the term  Justin Bieber  as the topic of trends, thanks to various sub-trends started Bypass admirers ban, Mr. Bieber has yet managed to capture the number two spot, we chart this week. Tweeple power! Or  Beeple Or something. At the same time, if you want to know how a previously unknown son of Oklahoma has been one of the biggest entertainment brands – or signs of any kind – this week on Twitter, read this: Greyson Chance, a 12-year-old superstar YouTube Twitter: How did Really Happened.

FYI: other brands that loomed large on Twitter this week, but did not crack our Top 10: Google (thanks to the launch of Google TV), the London Olympics 2012 (thanks to the introduction of the mascots ridiculously terrible), HTC (with the launch of HTC smart phones Wildfire), and – a bit strange – Ian Curtis, front man legendary punk band Joy Division, is a 30th anniversary of his suicide (18 May 1980). (Trend Pro-service practices to create this article offers in-depth look of hundreds of trends on a weekly basis).

We know Twitter has made it into the mainstream when celebrities rush to join the micro-blogging service. But who is the most popular Twitterer of them all?

1. Stephen Fry: 98616 followers

Read his Twitter feed at: http://twitter.com/stephenfry

Type of celebrity: Comedian, Actor, TV presenter, Wit

Typical Tweet: “600 people went to the theatre, not to to see Oliver but to compete in a paper & chocolate wrapper rustling competition. Others came to cough”

2. Lance Armstrong: 53813

http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong

Cyclist, record breaking Tour De France Winner

“Got the Knaggs’ family/kids over here at the house. 6 kids ripping around. It’s madness! Luke and 5 girls. Ha! Have a good weekend everyone!”

3. Britney Spears: 53290

http://twitter.com/britneyspears

“I love Japan! I think all the tiny cars are so cute! –Britney”

4. Rick Sanchez: 48825

http://twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn

American TV news anchor

“i twitter because i need as a journalist to get what viewers think and say. w/out them i’m just another talking head.they complete me, lol!”

5. Shaquille O’Neill: 46296

http://twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ

Basketball player, Actor

“Anotha sleepless nite, n twitter land, aaaaaggggghhhhhhh, whyyyyyyyyyyyy”

6. John Cleese: 44142

http://twitter.com/JohnCleese

Actor, Comedian

“Thank you everyone for the messages. Remember I am practically dead, barely functional. Your patience is appreciated. Will blog again soon”

7. Jonathan Ross: 43432

http://twitter.com/Wossy

Tv Presenter, Comedian

“You can lead a celeb to twitter but you can’t always make them tweet.”

8. Al Gore: 38351

http://twitter.com/algore

American politician, Former US Vice President, Environmentalist

“I’m advocating a US goal of 100% carbon-free electricity in 10 years. If you are interested in the plan, check today’s NYT op-Ed on it”

9. MC Hammer: 34042

http://twitter.com/MCHammer

Rapper

“I appreciate all the love (tweets) of congratulations you sent to me about the Super Bowl commercial (Cash4Gold) …it means a lot..thanks”

10. John Hodgman: 32097

http://twitter.com/hodgman

Comedian

“Desk is clear for the first time since beginning of book tour. Apparently it is made of wood”

11. Jimmy Fallon: 27163

http://twitter.com/jimmyfallon

American Comedian

“Just got 4 deli platters from The Daily Show for me and the staff. Classy peeps. Thanks!”

12. Dave Matthews: 24064

http://twitter.com/DaveJMatthews

Musician

“I been playing different guitars. One looks quite a bit like a strat but Rob Cavallo had it made for me (I liked his).”

13. Neil Gaiman: 17705

http://twitter.com/neilhimself

Author

“Clues you’re twittering too much : during an interesting dream, you think “I must twitter this”, and start looking in dream for your phone.”

14. Philip Schofield: 17291

http://twitter.com/Schofe

TV presenter

“Just got the viewing figures for DOI last night, best yet …. 10.9 million. Everyone thrilled with that!! If you watched, thank you.”

15. Russell Brand: 15673

http://twitter.com/rustyrockets

Comedian, TV Presenter, Actor

i”m in bed with my cat morrissey. he’d be furious if he knew i was writing this. he conveys affection by milking me, sans consent. grim

16 Alan Carr: 12,294

http://twitter.com/AlanCarr

“Regretting eating that extra portion of tenderstem broccoli, got awful wind. Nearly blew out my scented candle”

17. Demi Moore: 11655

http://twitter.com/mrskutcher

Actress

“Don’t know how this community of positivity was created but I’m grateful to have found you and thrilled to be a part of this. Go Twitterers

18. Arnold Schwarzenegger: 11147

http://twitter.com/schwarzenegger

Governor of California, former actor

“This is about clean air, saving drivers’ money at the gas pump, and about reducing dependence on foreign oil”

19. Jimmy Carr: 8827

http://twitter.com/jimmycarr

Comedian

“is performing at Peterborough tonight, then Brighton tomorrow”

20. Kevin Smith: 8379

http://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith

Film Director, Actor

I think someone tried to hack into my account. Bummer

21. William Shatner: 7599

http://twitter.com/WilliamShatner

Actor

“Ricardo Montalban was a wonderful man I saw him on Broadway I was entertained by his movies. I loved working with him on the film we made”

22. Snoop Doggy Dogg: 7549

https://twitter.com/snoopdogg

Rapper

“Who’s down to ride with Dogg???”

23. Karl Rove: 7233

http://twitter.com/KarlRove

Political advisor

“En route to Miami for a speaking engagement— a discussion on the new Administration and analysis of the general political landscape.”

24. Paulo Coelho: 5722

http://twitter.com/paulocoelho

Author

“I’m diving deeper into Timothy Leary’s perception of the world but without the LSD”

25. David Mitchell: 5465

http://twitter.com/RealDMitchell

“Thank you so much for believing I’m the real me! I’ve double checked and I still am. I’ll try and post something informative occasionally”

26. Soulja Boy: 5425

http://twitter.com/souljaboytellem

Rapper

“My video gone take him out the game Lol y’all gone love this sh*t just wait”

27. Charlie Brooker: 5338

http://twitter.com/charltonbrooker

Columnist, satirist, writer

“GATE O’CLOCK (gayt-oh-klok) – Noun. The tipping point at which the suffix “-gate” may be appended to any given scandal”

28. Luke Wilson: 4809

http://twitter.com/LukeWilson

Actor

“It’s hard to keep this twitter thing updated! I should hire someone to do this! ”

29. Andy Murray: 4758

http://twitter.com/andy_murray

Tennis Player

“In abu dhabi – redirected cuz of fog. Gone with that. Killing treacle on nintendo brain train tho”

30. Rob Brydon: 4673

http://twitter.com/RealRobBrydon

Actor, Comedian

“Almost ten hours of sleep, a modern day personal best!”

31. Joe Trippi: 4644

http://twitter.com/JoeTrippi

Political Adviser

“Completely fueled by Diet-Pepsi during Dean Campaign and since, I unfortunately must report that I do not feel “Forever Young”

32. Graham Linehan: 4071

http://twitter.com/Glinner

Sitcom writer behind Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd

“I’m pro-erotica, anti-vampire”

33. Andi Peters: 4021

http://twitter.com/xxandip

“I’m a Nando’s lover. Medium Peri-peri. Yum. All I talk about is food…why not!!”

34. Will Carling: 3115

http://twitter.com/willcarling

“Just about to have a meeting with Rob Jones, a rugby legend from the Valleys!! And a top boy (but can only drink 3 shandys a night!!)”

35. Boris Johnson: 2281

http://twitter.com/MayorOfLondon

Politician: Mayor of London, Columnist

“Sorry everyone for my radio silence. Not been sking but in Davos. Wall to wall bankerfest and crazy busy schedule. Promise to twitter mo …”

36. Michael Phelps: 2239

http://twitter.com/Michael_Phelps

Swimmer

“Michael Phelps + New Hobby = Poker !!”

37. Jamie Oliver: 2140

http://twitter.com/Jamie_Oliver

Chef

“yeah!great guys,go for it! get involed, talk about pork, cook different cuts, buy british! the recipes are there. and pledge pledge pledge”

38. Elijah Wood: 2118

http://twitter.com/elijahwood

Actor

“Dancing in my underwear like Tom Cruise in Risky Biz, lol”

39. Tim Minchin: 1965

http://twitter.com/timminchin

Comedian, musician, actor

“without wanting to sound too crass, tickets for next month’s leicester show have gone on sale. do come”

40. Rachel Bilson: 1720

http://twitter.com/rachel_bilson

Actress

“shopping! shhhhhh”

41. Mischa Barton: 1672

http://twitter.com/MischaBarton

“Hey guys, go check out out my blog where I clear up some rumors you might have read. Don’t believe everything you read! ; ) XOXO MB”

42. Yoko Ono: 1199

http://twitter.com/yokoono

Artist

“Every day, I am thankful that I am alive. It’s not like we are more deserving than the ones who are running for survival under bombs”

43. Eli Manning: 1328

http://twitter.com/elimanning

American Football player

“big game tonight. home field at stake. feelin good”

44. Regina Spektor: 1293

http://twitter.com/reginaspektor

Musician

“trying to keep up with all the followers! Xoxoxox”

45. George Lucas: 973

http://twitter.com/George_Lucas

Director

“Kids are really loving the new Clone Wars series”

46. Jamie Cullum: 929

http://twitter.com/jamiecullum

Musician

“Wow. As I listen to this new stuff I realise that i’ve definitely chosen vibe over perfection. All full takes, no editing”

47. Xzibit: 661

http://twitter.com/mrxtothaz

Rapper, TV Presenter

“black and gold is wack and old……LOL”

48. Richard Herring: 513

http://twitter.com/Herring1967

Comedian

“Playing scrabble in cafe Nero after getting too cold for comfort in regents park. Winning of course. Best word so far- patinas 73”

49. Roots Manuva: 388

http://twitter.com/rootsmanuva

Rapper, Musician

“Wassup twitation massive! The slime tour blasted off like a rocket. I’m in norfork now. Can someone tell my aunt delia to pop into the show.”

50. Toby Young: 103

http://twitter.com/toadmeister

Journalist, Broadcaster

“So 38 million Americans watched their new President flub the Oath. Even George “They misunderestimated me” Bush got that right”

They will be anywhere and everywhere we need and want them to be. And also, without that social context in our connected lives, we won’t really feel like we are truly living and alive, just as without sufficient air, we won’t really be able to breathe deeply.

There are four components of what I’m calling this idea of “ubiquitous social networks”: 1) Profiles; 2) Relationships; 3) Activities; and 4) Business models. These aren’t new — I wrote about the first three in my original report on social networks back in May 2004. But in the context of ubiquitous social networks, they will develop into the following: 1) Universal identities; 2) A single social graph; 3) Social context for activities; and 4) Social influence defining marketing value. For more detail on each of these components, see the extended post (warning: it’s really long!).

The ubiquitous social network isn’t going to happen overnight – in fact, it’s going to take five+ years to come to fruition. This is part of the continued evolution of open platforms, starting with walled garden services like Prodigy, Compuserve, and AOL that evolved into the major portal aggregators like Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL. This gave way to the “search era” where Google et. al. made all of the Internet easily accessible. Today’s social networks are a throwback to those early closed platforms, and they will be opened up by new “entrants” into the social space – namely, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, and AOL – who will leverage their deep, daily relationships with online audiences.

In the end, there are two essential things that have to present for this all to happen. The first is technology — ubiquitous Internet access and the servers to enable real-time social graph access. Given the pace of technology development, I’m pretty sure this will happen. The second is much harder — trust has to be present, between people, between social networks, marketers, and developers. This is what is going take a lot of time, effort, and patience, but the optimist in me thinks that it will come. That’s because people will press for it, demanding that sites and applications adhere to a Bill of Rights for users of the Social Web.

So what is a social network, marketer, or developer to do? Here are my recommendations:

• Create linkages between services based on individually-controlled identity federation
• Compete on creating the most compelling social experience, not social graph lock-in
• Develop social applications that have meaning
• Integrate social networks into existing activities
• Design business models that reflect the value created by people’s social network

In the extended post (click on “More” below) is a more detailed explanation of how I see each of the four components of ubiquitous social networks developing.

As I mentioned above, this is ongoing research and I’m far from done. So if you have ideas, comments, criticisms, or examples, let me know via comments below or email at cli at forrester dot com.

1) Universal identities. There’s nothing more painful than having to maintain multiple profiles on different sites. I have profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. I have profiles also on social media services like del.icio.us, Twitter, and Digg. There are accounts on Google, Yahoo, Windows Live, and AOL, and shopping profiles and feedback on Amazon and eBay. And then there are the identities I have with my work, my church, and my kids’ school.

What complexity! But then again, I’m a pretty complex person, as are most people. How to boil it down? First let’s get at the real problem – I want to be able to maintain and control my identity, and when needed, to make them connected between services. And I think that the way to do this is a federated approach, similar to how OpenID is approaching it. But honestly – how many of you have an OpenID, and use it?!? This is not to say that OpenID doesn’t work, but that each person already has an identity that can be tied back to email addresses and mobile numbers. These are personal, tied typically to one person, and most importantly, under our control. I already use my email address to log into most of my online services. And my mobile number is tied to my Twitter account.

In the future, there will likely be a few large centers for this federated identity, namely, the largest providers of email addresses like Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, and AOL. They will need to be willing to accept and aggregate identities outside of their proprietary systems, for example, I could pair my Gmail address to my Yahoo! account. There is also a role for players like Plaxo who help aggregate and synthesize these various contact points. Watch carefully to see how organizations like the Data Portability Group facilitate the opening of identity and profile systems from currently closed services like Facebook and LinkedIn. I think they will participate because they realize that together they can grow the market faster and better.

2) A single social graph. I have a pretty extensive social graph on services like LinkedIn and Facebook, but they are far from complete. I’m still missing most of my extended family, my Forrester colleagues, school friends, the parents at my children’s school, neighbors, and most importantly, the women in my morning walking group. These are the people I interact with every day – and they don’t participate in social networks – and won’t for the foreseeable future. But I interact with them every day – with emails, IMs, phone calls, and in person.

It’s these simple, communication-based interactions that can be used to create relationship maps. Josh Bernoff and I connect with frequently every day – I shouldn’t have to tell a social network that I’m friends with him. My social graph should monitor (with my permission) who I interact with, how often, and with what velocity (e.g. I reply to Josh immediately, but I may take a day to get back to someone else who has emailed me). This relationship map serves as the foundation for my social graph, while the explicit “friends” that I denote form another valuable layer. Here’s an illustration of what this implicit relationship maps could look like (this comes from my May 2004 report).

Who’s in the best position to do this? Again, major portal players like Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, and AOL who have deep, daily interactions across multiple channels and in different topic areas.

In the context, the idea of social graphs being “owned” by different social networks makes no sense. Yet, all of today’s social networks build their business model and competitive advantage on having the largest, most complete social graph. The result: I have a close colleague who enjoys exploring all of the new social networks and “friends” me on all of them, figuring I’m a pretty good person to have in his new network. In a world with a single social graph, he would be able to import his existing personal, social graph into any new service, and immediately begin enjoying the new service without having to wait for his friends to catch up. And I would be spared the insanity of having to accept his umpteenth “friend” invitation!

Dave McClure has an excellent illustration of just what this insanity look like:

In a world of a single social graph, social networks will have to compete on the basis of creating the best experience for its members – not because it controls a unique social graph.

3) Social context for activities. The brilliance of Facebook Platform is that it greatly expanded what people could do on social networks. The problem is that what people do is still pretty limited. Take a look at the top applications on Facebook – they can be roughly grouped into 1) managing/comparing/interacting with friends in a general context; 2) self-expression (FunWall, Bumper Sticker); 3) games; and 4) media preferences (iLike, Flikster). These are all fun and interesting, but they only begin to scratch the surface of what I do every day.

The biggest hole and opportunity, IMHO, is shopping. I research and buy things online every day, and with rare exception, these activities take place outside of Facebook. Facebook Beacon brings some of the information into News Feed, while a few shopping-oriented applications like StyleFeeder have potential. But by and large, social networks don’t figure into my shopping experiences.

But it could, and in a very significant want. Take for example, a book review that Dave McClure wrote on the book “The Mystery Of Capital” within the Books iRead application on Facebook. I happened to run into the review last year, but it wasn’t in context. Instead, I want to see reviews from my friends when I’m in the book buying process – on sites like Amazon.com and BN.com. It would mean a lot more for you to look at the Groundswell page on Amazon, and because you’re sign-in with your email address, be able to see any review a friend has written about the book – even if it’s on their personal blogs. That’s the epitome of social networks being like air, when it’s integrated into everything that you do.

4) A business model where social influence defines marketing value. Today’s advertising models don’t work on social networking sites – that’s because simply targeting better on profile or social graph details is still the same old media model of CPM and CPC pricing. What’s missing is marketing value based on how valuable I am in the context of my influence. For example, Steve Rubel is a highly influential person because he is an authority on social media, the people in his social graph tend to interested in his views, and they in turn have a great deal of authority as well. (Several people came up to me after the speech and said that this is similar to a “PageRank of people”, a very easy way to crystallize the idea.)

This means that each person will have their own “personal CPM”, an idea I heard JWT’s Marian Salzman discuss at a private event in February (here are more details on the JWT’s Top Trends for 2008). The idea is that marketers want to reach highly influential people, and hopefully curry their endorsements. This has traditionally been the province of public relations, where they reach out to key influencers. But in the world of social networks, this is influence writ large and wide – every person has their own network of influence, and hence, their own personal CPM or value that they contribute to a social network.

There are several start-ups as well as established agencies that are already looking at marketing, brokering, measuring, etc. social influence, so you can expect to hear more about this topic soon. But don’t expect advertising spending to quickly embrace social influence – after all, the vast majority of ad budgets are spent by media buyers who still cleave to the tried and true reach and frequency, CPM models.

The upshot of this is that in a world of universal identity, a single social graph, and distributed social activities, social networks will have to compete on their ability to create an experience that can attract and retain the most valuable individuals. Just like search, the competition will be just a click away. Yet, despite the similarities and constant innovation, people are amazingly loyal to specific search engines.