Albert Qian, The Social Media Dude

Albert Qian is a Social Media Enthusiast and Facebook nerd living, working and playing in Silicon Valley. He comments on social media happenings when he can and works on social media when the sun goes down. Learn more about him at the links by following him on Twitter @albertqian or by sending him an email. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-18937333-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[albertqian]

Shoreline #sunset #saturday #landscape (at Shoreline Aquatic Center)

[albertqian]

Just strolling through campus on my way home. Just another typical day here - and I'm working here starting tomorrow! #spring #instaclara #california (at Santa Clara University)

[albertqian]

The Pacific #california (at Big Sur, Ca)

[albertqian]

The drive down on the PCH. A hundred miles of great views. #california #ocean #landscape (at Hurricane Point)

[albertqian]

Tumbling to Wordpress

When I began my venture two and a half years ago on this site the intention was to stay for awhile. At the time, Tumblr was one of the best sites online, garnering more engagement than anywhere else - and it's still there, a beast to be reckoned with. However when you want to be serious and the most popular site is down, there is not much you can do. And so I'm left to move. 

I've moved to Wordpress but I will still be here to recap social media month over month. You can find me at the new http://www.albertqian.com with the same great content and analysis of social media. I encourage you to follow me there and everywhere that you may find me. Let's keep social media cool and simple to understand for years to come. 

See you soon,

Albert 

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - Predictions for 2013

So here we are, 2013.

2012's predictions are done and gone and here we are in a new year. We are all hopefully still around as the Mayan Calendar has not ended the world. Let's look at what there will be in the coming year ahead: 

1) Facebook Will Rebound: It's been made quite clear in this blog that I have a disdain for Facebook. However I think the company is going to see itself a rebound because of the maturation of the mobile revolution. With many users on mobile and this being their core strategy expect a bump in revenue. No, the company will not hit its IPO of $42/share but it will come within $10. If Facebook does not rebound, the leadership of Zuckerberg will be questioned and he could be out. We'll stay positive for now. 

2) Groupon, Zynga Will Not: The future for these companies is not bright. Both are struggling and both have analysts wondering what the future of social media will be. At least one of these companies will see a major hiccup for 2013. Expect one to be gone or near gone by the time we revisit this post on December 31st, 2013. 

3) The Internet Privacy War Gets Even Louder: Remember when Barack Obama told Vladimir Putin that he would have more flexibility in term number two? Say hello to part two of the Internet privacy war. If you didn't think SOPA, PIPA and CISPA were loud enough in 2012, expect something louder in 2013 as the US Government tries to clamp down on a social media world gone rogue and an unexpected from anything we've ever seen. 

4) Twitter Finally Figures it Out: From fail whales to outages and everything we've seen in between, Twitter finally gets it together and figures out a way to make money, stay relevant and be the second brother to Facebook.

5) MySpace Makes a Comeback: I must be kidding right? Am I still on that New Years Champagne high? No I'm not. MySpace with a more targeted audience makes a comeback. No we won't see numbers like yesteryear but they settles into a niche. 

6) Pinterest Plops Down or Sells: The party has to end at some point. Facebook adjusted its image settings in 2012 in order to compete with Pinterest. Pinterest itself is making a play for small business to create value. Something gives in this arena and that shrieking sound was the 1 in 5 women who all of the sudden have nothing more to pin.

7) So Does Google+: We'll be heading into year 3 of the Google+ experiment. Will all the forcing, wheeling and dealing send the network into a happy zone or will it all blow up in the faces of Google executives as another social media flop? I predict a flop, and by early 2014 we're talking about yet another service that gets shuttered. It will be YouTube, not Google+ that ends up being Google's most successful social media service.

8) LinkedIn Leaps Ahead: Of all the struggling social media companies LinkedIn will leap ahead. Sales will be higher than ever as the job market becomes robust. LinkedIn stock will report all-time highs and the company will become the place for finding work, even ahead of Facebook's new apps. 

9) We welcome the post-literate era: Say hello to YouTube and goodbye to reading. We will see the second coming of Gangam Style and Call Me Maybe. It will be even bigger than these two videos combined and society will be turned upside down, inside out and sideways for a month. Video will account for more than 60% of everything we do online. 

What are your predictions for 2013?

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - Reviewing the Predictions

At the end of 2011 I predicted social media events for 2012. Now it’s time to check how I did. Let’s go down each event one-by-one.

1) Google+ Continues to Struggle: Google+ had an interesting second year of existence, though not without more controversy as Google was accused of trying to force its users into using its social network. Brand pages launched giving corporations a greater presence but the long-term effect of that is still yet to be seen. The verdict: correct

2) Facebook’s IPO will rival Google’s: Facebook’s IPO raised $104 billion dollars versus Google’s $23 billion. Facebook also hit over 1 billion users as it passed that milestone on October 4th, 2012. The verdict: correct, correct

3) MySpace is handed its demise: MySpace actually underwent a redesign and is back. Its demise is not going to happen for a while at least. The verdict: Incorrect

4) Social media will play a big part in the 2012 election: Definitely a no-brainer. Obama used social media effectively and Mitt Romney saw his Facebook page hit 3 million fans. The results of the Presidential Debates also affected social media as well. The verdict: correct

5) Facebook Launches a Phone, RIM sees its demise: Neither of these two happened this year. Facebook got close to a phone but never executed. RIM didn’t go down either but continued to see a decline. The verdict: incorrect, incorrect

6) Twitter growth slows but plays a part in change: In the last several months of this year we saw Twitter play a part in war as Israel and Hezbollah went to war over Twitter. President Barack Obama also declared victory on Twitter as well. Verdict: correct

7) Social Media Automation Sees Maturity: Social media automation saw an increase in popularity this year. HootSuite and Facebook both improved on their automation settings and BundlePost, my favorite content management platform also saw some robust upgrades. Content is more important than ever and these events proved so. Verdict:  correct 

6/8 Correct – 75%

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - #1: Politics Rules Social Media

2012 was yet another banner year for social media. We saw an election, Facebook go public and milestones hit. This year we will cover the top social media events of the year. Today we cover the top event of the year: Social media’s impact on the 2012 election, from social apps to memes to getting out the vote.

Where 2008 was the introduction of social media into politics, 2012 cemented it as a true campaign platform. From the implementation of mobile apps to the nonstop sharing of photos from both the liberal right and conservative right, social media, not MSNBC, was the place for politics.

When Republican primaries ended with a Mitt Romney victory versus incumbent Barack Obama, not only was the election on, but so was the war for social media followers and influence. Some key events:

1) Fake Followers: Both candidates early on were accused of having fake followers and purchasing followers. Social media professionals look down on this but politicians do this to go ahead and look a lot more prominent. Buying followers meant that social media now means something when it comes to looking pretty online.

2) Mobile Apps: Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney had released apps this year that users could use to flaunt their support through their mobile phones. Romney in particular released an app with a misspelled name – “Amercia” – which got a lot of mocking before it was corrected. The “America” app was meant to encourage users to take photos of America and project a sense of patriotism.

3) Debates: The Presidential debates saw Obama and Romney come together for the first time after vicious attacks on each other. Throughout the three debates held as well as the Vice Presidential debate social media responded feverishly – status updates, tweets, photos and otherwise represented both sides. And speaking of both sides…

4) The exploding news feed: Social media played court to some of the most vicious, partisan politicking ever seen. Over social media where there is no time to think but all the time to write what suits you in the moment, Facebook in particular played court to fighting between friends, callouts over status updates and the excessive sharing of photos, conservative and liberal, enough to encourage users to go ahead and install plugins that replace status updates mentioning politics with a softer side of the Internet: cat pictures.

5) Social media finality: When it was all over on November 6th, the two sides took their victory and loss differently. Obama announced victory on Twitter before giving his victory speech and Romney slunk away quietly, leaving his Facebook followers to wonder where he went and chart the loss of fans.

With media ever present in every political event from here on out, the talk of 2016 has already begun and you definitely know that by then social media will have a stranglehold in politics. With the younger generation becoming more involved in politics and running for office we’re almost assured that posts on social media will make a difference. It’s not just a matter of if now, but a certain matter of how.

Which was your top event in social media this year? Share your comments below. See you next year for our 2013 top events!

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - #2: Facebook Goes Public, Flops

2012 was yet another banner year for social media. We saw an election, Facebook go public and milestones hit. This year we will cover the top social media events of the year. Today we cover Facebook and their going public – and the subsequent flop of their stock.

I remember the morning Facebook went public. The anticipation already several months old hit a fever pitch. News networks, potential investors and Facebook users were nervous as the social network made its plunge into a public company. Many companies had made the plunge before but Facebook being the leader of all the social networks was different: Success was on the radar, and the moneymaking would be huge. Many were anticipating a much bigger IPO than even that of Google, and considered this a landmark event comparable to Netscape going public in 1996 when that IPO was considered the welcome party of the Internet.

Up until that day Facebook had revised its price per share total several times, first starting at $28 a share and then ultimately settling at $42 a share. My social network buzzed with anticipation. Many were expecting to get in on one of the biggest IPOs of all time, others warned that this was a social network without a product, just a website with a lot of hype. As the day wore on it was proven that the latter would be right – any sign of a first-day bump that many companies saw was reduced to a mere push as the company settled near its IPO price.

Subsequent months would see the stock decline more than half its price, prompting many to declare that the social media party was over. Those who had invested felt cheated and manipulated, and those from the company itself felt disdain towards the New York Stock Exchange, which they felt had botched the entire day completely. Many even questioned the company vision, including here where I said the company was lost and careening out of control. Some even thought CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg should step down for the good of the company. I wrote about a company lost on May 29th.

Months later we have seen a flat lining of the stock. Revenues are holding up and new moneymaking strategies, however controversial they may be are assisting the company in addition to changes on mobile. Wherever it goes in the new year will have much speculation – investors now and then just hope that they can make their money back and then some.

What do you think? Did Facebook flop or does it still have hope?

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - #3: Facebook's Billion

2012 was yet another banner year for social media. We saw an election, Facebook go public and milestones hit. This year we will cover the top social media events of the year. Today we cover Facebook hitting 1 billion users, or nearly 20% of the planet.

Social media has arrived. 

Much of this was the sentiment – along with well wishes and success the day Facebook hit 1 billion users – October 4th, 2012. 1 billion of anything is a tough challenge, but having the attention of just fewer than 20 percent of the planet is another thing.  It’s absolutely phenomenal.

Facebook’s 1 billion users include:

600 million mobile users

140.3 billion friend connections

19 billion photo uploads

44% of the Internet using population

For a company that started a mere 9 years ago hitting 1 billion users means that the Internet has contributed to the acceleration of ideas. Compared to technologies such as radio and television which took decades, Facebook’s ascent is astronomical and represents the age of information and information flow.

The questions that remain for Facebook will be how the iconic social network will expand to its next billion in addition to continuing to change and innovate while encouraging users to stay on. Much has been made regarding the amount of accounts many users have as well as the way that the company will make money. Is Facebook too big to fail? Can Facebook get too big? All are very valid questions as we move into the future.

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude

[albertqian]

Merry Christmas

To you and yours, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! May your holidays be social. :)

[albertqian]

A Social Media Christmas Carol (2012)

T’was the night before Christmas And through the digital marketer’s abode Not a sound was being made Only the voice of “OH NO!”

He dropped his coffee on the table with a thud His earlier marketing campaign had been a dud There was no content scheduling, this he had missed His fans, his manager, all had led out a hiss

To BundlePost he went for that’s what he needed He’d talked to @fondalo the other day, and that’s what he had heeded To HootSuite he went next, for that’s the tool to win To use something otherwise would be an absolute sin

He settled back to read @steamfeedcom and something more came to his mind He remembered his conversation with @blakejamieson, a consultant, what a find Facebook ads were a thought, would his manager mind? He had heard a lot, it seemed like a grind

Analytics he thought, social listening was hot He’d also remembered @dbvickery, whom he’d give Mantis Pulse Analytics a shot Off he went to go, to write out some tactic In hopes that his listening would not remain static.

Even though it was past midnight, he still had lots to do A design consultation with @ahnahendrix, that had to go through Good social media starts with a great site No rotating gifs or video landing pages, what a great fright!

And finally it was time to head off to bed, the @8pmWarrior in him in tow Tomorrow would be another big day, the end of month near, analytics in stow But I wish you a merry Christmas here, socially and with glee Don’t forget to network, 2013 will be here soon, hooray and yipee!

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - #4: The Decline of Social Gaming

2012 was yet another banner year for social media. We saw an election, Facebook go public and milestones hit. This year we will cover the top social media events of the year. Today we cover Zynga and the future of the social gaming industry.

Only a few years ago did the social media world marvel at Zynga, the company named after a dog that had games where you could seed a virtual farm, take down countless mafia bosses and feed your fish, all while creating and managing the city of your dreams. Little did anyone know that as fast as the meteoric rise came, the fall would come so soon as quick as the withering of virtual crops.

Social gaming was once viewed as the future. Zynga early on tied itself with Facebook. So Facebook changed, Zynga did too but with changes in the platform Zynga struggled. Users fell and so did revenue. And then came their Q2 bombshell earlier this year that showed the company did so bad that stock fell 40% in one after hours trading session.

And with that, the mafia leader was shot. 

Where social gaming goes from here is a question yet to be answered.  The hope and anticipation investors saw years ago is gone, and even though there are still companies out there doing social gaming the excitement is lessened. Zynga is seeing its market crumble, and there should be no surprise if other companies follow. Will we still dress up our pets next year? Farm our croups? Feed our fish? Will you?

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - #5: Facebook Acquires Instagram

2012 was yet another banner year for social media. We saw an election, Facebook go public and milestones hit. This year we will cover the top social media events of the year. Today we cover our first mention of Facebook and their $1 billion dollar acquisition of Instagram.

The social media world has been for the large part, comprised of two camps – social media apps and companies that customers like, and social media apps and companies that companies hate. Facebook’s acquisition of photo sharing and filtering application Instagram, completed September 6th, 2012 was the merging of both.

The Internet as I argued earlier this year has become a boring place. Facebook’s $1 billion dollar acquisition of Instagram, famously done in just under a week was a confirmation of such a notion. Even despite releasing its own Facebook photography application just weeks later, the acquisition was considered by many to be a move of attention and desperation by the social media company to retain attention that had been lost due to its integration with everyone’s lives. 

The acquisition itself had mixed reviews. Those who loved Instagram dearly and detested Facebook saw the move as a sell out and immediately looked for alternatives. Those who followed social media (external to this site of course) saw the acquisition as a representation of Facebook’s market power.

As we head towards the end of the year the jury is out on the deal but it looks like the two will remain separate despite being one. It will however be remembered as one of the biggest social media deals of all time.

Did you like the acquisition? Let us know in the comments below.

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - #6: Pinterest Makes a Play

2012 was yet another banner year for social media. We saw an election, Facebook go public and milestones hit. This year we will cover the top social media events of the year. Today we cover Pinterest, the social and image pinning / sharing site that took the world (and women) by storm.

Few truths are ever clearer than the fact that human beings are visual. We are attracted to that which we can see. Thus, there was no other social network in 2012 that made such an impact than that of Pinterest.

Pinterest, a portmanteau of Pinning and Interest made a cannonball splash in 2012, particularly with the female social media crowd. The social network, basically images and graphics pinned from the web into specific categories exploded in activity after getting started in late 2011 through beta invites and grew into something else in 2012. From photos of recipes to social media infographics Pinterest had something for everyone – and at the end of 2012, businesses and private pinners as well as users could switch their profiles and keep their pins from the eyes of public watchers.

Pinterest’s crowning feature was that it was a hit with women. One in five users on the platform are women and its picture-centric approach to social media even could be argued to have inspired Facebook to become more picture-centric itself through the altering of how you view photos and share them.

So do you Pin? Will you be pinning in 2013? Pinterest could either be the short-lived social network that takes everyone by storm or be here to stay. I’d like to think that it’s the latter, but who knows. It’s our #6 for the top events of 2012.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - #7: Floundering Social Networks Continue to Hope

2012 was yet another banner year for social media. We saw an election, Facebook go public and milestones hit. This year we will cover the top social media events of the year. Today we cover Google+ and Myspace, social networks still struggling to survive.

As Facebook hit 1 billion users this year the social media world celebrated a landmark event. At the same time however lesser social networks were still pushing their way through or struggling to make a comeback.

Google+, launched in 2011 is still struggling as of the writing of this blog post. With 100 million active users (25% of total users) and nearly three quarter of them men, the network is still trying to find a way to be relevant. With failures already in Wave and other social tools credibility is still a deep issue. Google+ now does include brand pages but getting users to engage with them will be a challenge, especially since Facebook has a greater number. Privacy does not always win out.

MySpace also made a play at coming back this year. The oft-joked about social network, often credited with starting the social media revolution before Facebook underwent a redesign and came back looking very sleek. Still the verdict seems to be solid here: MySpace will never come back from the days where News Corp bought the network for $500 million dollars and solid it for about 20% of that price.  In some sense however, the market has already accepted where MySpace is heading, and it’s definitely not up.

Hope and change may be the words of our political generation but in social media its quite obvious who has the lead: Facebook and Twitter. Beyond these two it’s a battle for 3rd place, and with Facebook and Twitter getting more steam, floundering social networks will find it harder and harder to keep up.

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude

[albertqian]

2012 Social Media Recap - #8: The Rise of Slacktivism

2012 was yet another banner year for social media. We saw an election, Facebook go public and milestones hit. This year we will cover the top social media events of the year. Today we cover slacktivism, a term coined in reaction to social causes on Facebook that started with a bang and ended with a whimper.

We’ve all seen the video to some capacity: The eyes of a sad child in Uganda forced to commute nightly from one place to another to avoid the violence of a civil war that has plunged the country into irrelevance. The wailings of a young boy asking for the end of the war, the missing of his parents and a wish for peace, juxtaposed on the belligerent child wielding a machine gun, ready to take down his enemy as directed by Joseph Kony. Most of us know about invisible children.

Invisible Children is the cause that been around for the past decade or so. A film originally by Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole the documentary they created by the same name follows the efforts of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony and his terror-ridden atrocities. The documentary has received global acclaim and has a following of high school and college students. This April the documentary and company made a return with the KONY campaign, meant to re-enact the civil war and bring to light Joseph Kony, the mastermind behind the civil war.

The event was marked with the changing of Facebook profile pictures and the posting of the YouTube promotion video. Those who had followed the movement for awhile were once again excited and shared the video across all of their social networks. Except one thing was wrong: Slacktivism.

Slacktivism is the portmanteau of slacking, the art of procrastination and activism, the art of being active and participatory in a political cause. As contradictory as the phrase seems to be, the Kony campaign brought to light this issue – the action of liking something and counting it as activism while in reality not doing anything. Kony as one would have imagined, faded as quickly as it came – Russell was found drunkenly running through San Diego and with that, so too went his credibility. I questioned the whole event in itself, March 8th of this year.

On a greater scale, Kony has been just one example of how slacktivism has invaded social media. From the current movement for secession to liking posts to solve hunger there is a fear that a generation of concerned activists who do nothing is beginning to arise. While we all know that liking a Facebook post or sharing content does not solve anything politically or socially we seem to find enjoyment and interest in doing it anyway.  

Is there?

Albert Qian | The Social Media Dude