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What happens within an organisation, when the internal boundaries of departments, functions and even buildings are eroded by a new expectation of what collaboration should be, where the default is to be “open”, and information flows fast and free.

In his presentation at SMI13, and in his new book, Business Reimagined, Dave Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer for Bing at Microsoft will explore the Future of Work and the role serendipity can play in driving innovation inside an organisation.

Learn more and register for the SMI13 conference today.

Week four in our conference giveaway and just a few more opportunities left to bag yourself a free pass to 360 Degrees of a Social Company, taking place June 13 in London. Read all about the program and make a date in your diary for what is set to be one of social media’s most eye-opening events of the year.

In the meantime, give us your thoughts on this year’s top social trends to be in with the chance of scooping a free conference pass. Just finish this sentence:

To enter, tweet your response to us @socialinfluence using #SMI13Comp, post it on our Facebook page, or email our editor at Rachel@SocialMediaInfluence.com. Can’t wait to hear what you think!

Free ‘organic’ tactics such as creating branded pages and content remains the most popular social media strategy by large marketers, yet according to a new study, paid advertising is the most successful.

According to a new study by Kenshoo Social and Forrester Consulting, while large social advertisers (spending more than $100,000 per year on social advertising) use a wide range of both organic and paid strategies, more than one in three are not satisfied with their efforts.

However, branded pages alone do not make for an effective marketing strategy, and those opting for paid advertising were more likely to see desired outcomes, with those paying to promote their branded content most satisfied with the awareness they created, and those buying standard social ad units most happy with their ability to drive purchases.

The report also found that while more than half of the 105 companies surveyed use ad rotation, only one-third use granular targeting to reach the right audiences, and most of those who do target use only basic criteria such as demographic targeting.

So, the report swings very much in favor of paid tactics, noting that while many marketers still think of social media as a free channel – and it can be free – if you want to deliver results it shouldn’t be free. “Generally, social advertisers get what they pay for,” it notes.

“This research study demonstrates the importance of using advanced technology platforms to create highly-targeted campaigns at scale, leveraging a portfolio approach across promoted content and standard ad units to achieve overall business goals,” says Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer of Kenshoo.

“Furthermore, marketers must connect the dots across paid, owned and earned media placements to understand the impact of each touchpoint along the path to conversion. Kenshoo Social is committed to delivering the tools needed by today’s social marketer to illuminate the value of social media and drive results.”

View the full report on Kenshoo’s website.

Knowing when to update social channels is key to optimizing reach and engagement, but just as each network boasts its own unique features, so too do their markets in terms of log-on behavior. It’s no substitute for your own research, of course, but this infographic from Social Caffeine provides a good starting point for the best and worst times to post on different channels. 

LinkedIn used to be little more than a repository for CVs and a hunting-ground for recruiters.

But it’s now an increasingly-important corporate comms channel – somewhere people are spending time on while they’re at work, rather than when they’re looking for work.

LinkedIn’s ‘Influencers  Programme’ launched in October 2012, as a long-form content-hub for genuine thought-leadership. It helped to kickstart ‘LinkedIn Today’, transforming the social network into the definitive business-to-business opinion-former network.

In this SMI13 session Chris Reed, who heads up digital and social communications for Fishburn Hedges and Seventy Seven, will look at Linkedin’s recent transformation from ugly duckling to social media swan, using some Fishburn Hedges (and other) case studies to show how the channel can be used for genuine influencer-outreach.

Learn more about SMI13, taking place on June 13 in London.

The challenge for social media marketing is telling stories at scale. Two areas – big data and content marketing – have been evolving rapidly but are far from mature. In this session Brilliant Noise co-founder Antony Mayfield will demonstrate some of the work his team are doing with Porsche and Nokia to think about how numbers and stories work together what this narrative data mash suggests about the future of marketing.

Antony is one of our longest serving speakers at SMI. In fact he’s taken part in every one of our eight conferences. There’s a reason for that. We like smart people who understand that social is more than just a marketing trick and Antony’s thinking and experience speak volumes.

Join us at SMI13 to hear from Antony and many other social media thinkers.

Fading web pioneer Yahoo has agreed to buy Tumblr for a rumoured $1.1bn (£725m) cash, according to company insiders.

The deal is expected to be announced early this week, and will mark the largest acquisition of a social networking company in years, surpassing Facebook’s $1bn purchase of Instagram last year.

The deal will be Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s seventh in a line of bold moves taken to restore the company to its former web glory, and sends a clear signal of how it plans to reposition itself on the social landscape.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Tumblr would continue to operate as an independent business and David Karp – it’s 26-year-old founder – will remain in his role.

To celebrate 40 years of partnership with the French Open, banking group BNP Paribas is inviting tennis fans to personally get involved with Jo-Wilfred Tsonga’s training program – via Twitter.

The ‘Tweet and Shoot’ campaign sees social media users drag-and-drop a tennis ball on a virtual tennis court, positioning their shot and then firing the ball at Tsonga. The shot is encoded as a hashtag and put into a tweet, which is then sent to the tennis champ, along with a personal message if desired.

Then on May 23 an on-court robot, connected to Twitter via 3G, will randomly select users’ tweets and launch tennis balls at Tsonga, precisely mapping the positioning of the user’s shot. BNP Paribas is also running a community competition for ‘VIP trainers’ who will win a guaranteed shot at the star, rather than hoping theirs is randomly selected on the day.

Tsonga said: “I’ve always loved a challenge and when BNP Paribas asked me to take part in a world first experience to mark its 40-year partnership with Roland-Garros, I was immediately intrigued. Being trained by fans on Twitter a few days ahead of the French Open – what a daring challenge.

“I’m looking forward to taking on the technical prowess of Twitter users. Hopefully, sharing this experience with all these tennis fans will bring me luck for the tournament.”

Designed and developed by social media agency We Are Social, the Tweet and Shoot event marks a world-first for sport and mass participation, and provides interesting clues as to where future campaigns could go in bridging the online/offline divide.

In a bid to stave of overwhelming competition from the likes of Amazon and eBay, retailer Target is taking a punt at a social commerce venture which, they say, will “bridge the gap between digital and their stores.”

Cartwheel is an ambitious digital savings initiative between Target and Facebook, but its premise is simple enough. The program gives users personalized coupons to share with friends on the social network, and the scan in-store. When users claim an offer, Cartwheel generates posts to their newsfeeds. Predictably, the more coupons redeemed and the more friends invited, the more rewards on offer.

“Target recognizes that shopping is an inherently social experience,” Facebook said in a statement. “It’s been fantastic working with the company on the development of Cartwheel, and we’re excited to see how Target customers use the product.”

Well, points for effort for Target, which at least recognizes the need to create a strong presence in the digital world. But surely Facebook should know better by now – f-commerce has struggled to find its feet ever since its inception and with the rise of other social shopping models (P-commerce, or ‘participatory commerce’, in particular taking flight), many reckon that Cartwheel, with its mish-mash of commerce ideas, will fall flat.

Indeed, the editors of CIO Journal have already said the initiative is certainly “not a game changer”, citing claims from Forrester Research Inc that the service is “overly complicated”. Indeed, elsewhere around the web reports are trickling in that Cartwheel’s sharing function requires “a PhD from MIT” to turn off. Which means users’ entire Facebook networks will be able to see just how much booze they bought at the weekend, or how many packets of cookies they consider acceptable for a night in front of the TV. Is any coupon worth that kind of shame?

Of course, it’s still too early to call it. But certainly precedent suggests there won’t be any handstands for Cartwheel.

Instagram addiction, Twitterholism, Facebook fatigue… these are the kind of terms touted by the media in a bid to condemn the increasing amount of time we dedicate to social media – sometimes at the expense of real life.

But, as ‘social media addiction’ cements itself more firmly in our lexicon, is it something we need genuinely worry about? This tongue-in-cheek video by yourtango takes a humorous look at it from an extreme angle, on one hand taking the mickey of scaremongering media outlets, while on the other painting an uncomfortable picture of lives overwhelmed by digital demands. As Tweetsy, the Responsible Use of Social Media Bird, says: “Don’t tweet the whole day away and you’ll keep the social media fatigue at bay.” Wise words, Tweetsy!

An app that gives Facebook users a one in six chance of having their profiles deleted has been banned by the site.

Social Roulette – aimed at those considering a break from the digital demands of social networking, or those just game for a gamble – promises to remove Facebook photos, friends, comments and updates before deactivating the account, providing the player drew the ‘loaded chamber’ in an app game mimicking the very real and lethal game of Russian Roulette.

“Everyone thinks about deleting their account at some point, it’s a completely normal reaction to the overwhelming nature of digital culture,” states the app’s website.

However, if users spin to an empty barrel, their accounts remain unaffected except for the message: ‘I just played Social Roulette and survived’.

But just four hours after the app launched, Facebook shut it down for “violating its platform policies”.

Some observers note that this is simply responsible behaviour on Facebook’s behalf: if the user strikes out and immediately regrets the decision, who can help? The developer? Clearly it’s not up to Facebook to clean up the metaphorical mess.

But on the other hand, some are accusing Facebook of being too controlling. After all, it’s your account to do with what you will, right? Well, that’s debatable – and perhaps it’s this level of control that’s prompting people to ‘pick up the gun’ in the first place.

Foul-mouthed British chef Gordon Ramsay was at the centre of a social media meltdown this week after he walked off an American episode of Kitchen Nightmares, claiming he was unable to help the couple who restaurant he was tasked with turning around.

The show revealed that the hapless restaurateurs, Samy and Amy Bouzaglo, of Amy’s Baking Company in Arizona, had fired more than 100 employees in a year, and would routinely shout at customers that complained of poor service. One diner who asked why he had not yet been served was told: “go f**k yourself.” Now, Ramsay is not adverse to the odd fiery outburst so for him to walk away from such behaviour is a damning indictment indeed.

In any case, the episode was aired and shortly afterwards viewers took to social media in droves to lambast the couple’s shoddy business ethic. Across the restaurant’s Facebook page and over Twitter, Reddit and Yelp shocked Kitchen Nightmares fans criticised the couple, with most – for once – on Ramsay’s side.

And then the Bouzaglos did the worst thing possible: they retaliated, raining down a maelstrom of abuse at the ‘haters’:

The tirade continued for several days before coming to an abrupt halt with the following message:

Hmm, obviously. Call us cynical, but it does seem a tad unlikely that this excuse could really hold up. Fingers crossed the ‘FBI computer crimes unit’ can bring the real perps to justice, or that the couple at least take a crash course in social media crisis management. Or manners, for that matter.

It’s week three of our SMI ’13 conference ticket giveaway and what a creative lot you are. Last week’s question, ‘A world without Twitter is a world without…’ delivered a raft of smart responses. ‘Procrastination’ observed one entrant. ‘Immediacy’ said another. One person even said that a world without Twitter is a world without friendships. Aww!

This week, we want your thoughts on Facebook. If the networking giant could introduce any feature to its platform, what would you want it to be? Remember, the wittiest, most thought-provoking  or insightful responses will win a free pass to SMI’s 2013 conference, ‘360 Degrees of a Social Company‘.

To enter, tweet your response to us @socialinfluence using #SMI13Comp, post it on our Facebook page, or email our editor at Rachel@SocialMediaInfluence.com.

This week sees the release of vukee M, a new app that allows photo enthusiasts to sell their iPhone and Android pictures on a mobile marketplace at the touch of a button. But it’s not the only app that lets users (moderately) line their pockets with their smartphone habits; we round up three – including vukee M – that promise cash rewards without interfering in your life.

GymPact 

A nice take on the crowdfunding model, GymPact effectively guilts users into meeting their self-imposed gym attendance quota each week, or else they risk a financial penalty. Every week gym-goers set their workout schedule for the next seven days and make a pledge of between $5 and $50 for every workout missed. At the end of the week, everyone that chose the couch over the treadmill coughs up, and the total is split between those that kept their end of the bargain. The app verifies workouts with check-ins, geolocation and connectivity with running app RunKeeper.

Platform and developer: Android, iOS (by GymPact).

Final word: Clearly not a good choice for existing couch potatoes, but for gym bunnies already making exercise a big part of their lives, this app could deliver nicely, as long as you’re okay taking money on the basis of other people’s failings in life.

vukee M

As mentioned above, vukee M – launched this week – allows snap-happy smartphone users to upload their photos to a central marketplace, where, allegedly, their images will be seen by thousands of agencies, editors and commercial buyers. No word yet on the sums involved, but the site claims that if a purchase is made, users will “enjoy a high percentage of the selling price, which they can use to upgrade their device, pay for a trip around the world … or do anything else that they wish”. This would suggest big bucks at stake, but we suspect the real figure is probably much more nominal.

Platform and developer: Android, iOS (by vukee M).

Final word: No doubt there is a growing trend towards candid, Instagram style photographs in marketing and editorial – even in store windows. If this app proves successful, it could pioneer this emerging marketplace, and give some power back to those whose pictures end up used without permission. But bankrolling a trip around the world? Unlikely.

Checkpoints 

Checkpoints is a rewards app that encourages users to earn points through playing games, scanning certain items in particular stores, logging check-ins and so on. Out and about, users can fire up the app, and it’ll tell them what’s available nearby. One check-in might be worth 20 points. Scanning a product nearby might be worth 40. Every time a product is scanned, the app will give the user the chance to win extra points through in-app games or special promotions. The app also builds on social connections, encouraging and rewarding users for sharing product tips on networks, or introducing friends to the scheme. Points can be redeemed in-app for dinners, gadgets, airline miles and hotel stays.

Platform and developer: Android, iOS (by inMarket Media).

Final word: Clearly the whole thing is an exercise in product marketing, a kinda ‘we’ll reward you for looking at this but hopefully you’ll buy it anyway, or at least get your friends to’ deal. However, it’s not an intrusive app, and doesn’t require any more effort than a cursory glance when you’re already out shopping. It’ll no doubt take a while to rack up a significant number of points, but what’s a few scans here and there if it means some decent freebies down the line?

In a case of ‘stick with what you know’, reports indicate that Facebook’s forays into the smartphone business are dead in the water.

Its ambitious app, Facebook Home –  designed to turn Android handsets into a Facebook phone without the company having to actually design a phone – has taken over a month to reach a million downloads from the Play store. What’s more, of the 16,000 reviews, over half give the app just one star.

Meanwhile, AT&T is reportedly planning to drop the Android-based HTC First, aka the ‘Facebook Phone’, after last week slashing the cost of the handset from $99 to just 99 cents – just weeks after the phone was first introduced. Sources claim fewer than 15,000 of the phones had been sold by the end of its first month.

Richard Windsor from RadioFreeMobile consultancy, told the Guardian: “With that one slash of the knife, AT&T has confirmed what everyone had already gathered; the Facebook phone is proving very unpopular.”

In a case of ‘stick with what you know’, reports indicate that Facebook’s forays into the smartphone business are dead in the water.

Its ambitious app, Facebook Home –  designed to turn Android handsets into a Facebook phone without the company having to actually design a phone – has taken over a month to reach a million downloads from the Play store. What’s more, of the 16,000 reviews, over half give the app just one star.

Meanwhile, AT&T is reportedly planning to drop the Android-based HTC First, aka the ‘Facebook Phone’, after last week slashing the cost of the handset from $99 to just 99 cents – just weeks after the phone was first introduced. Sources claim fewer than 15,000 of the phones had been sold by the end of its first month.

Richard Windsor from RadioFreeMobile consultancy, told the Guardian: “With that one slash of the knife, AT&T has confirmed what everyone had already gathered; the Facebook phone is proving very unpopular.”

While for many social media is embedded into the core of  their modern lives, it’s still a medium in its infancy. Just as a child explores, makes mistakes and develops a personality of its own, so too has social media. But it’s been a bumpy ride, and thanks to constantly shifting technological landscapes the future of social is shrouded in speculation. 

This infographic by marketing software company HubSpot takes a look at social’s journey so far, highlighting periods where things could’ve been done a little differently. But you know what they say about rose tinted spectacles!

A couple of months ago we ran a story outing the 25% of women who regularly fib on Facebook in a bid to make their lives sound more glamorous. It was hardly groundbreaking research though – very few ladies would readily admit to slobbing in front of the TV night after night in the same grubby sweat pants.

Now though, a new study finds that it’s not just women telling the odd social porkie. According to a report by Barclaycard bespoke offers, nearly six million Brits regularly tell ‘white lies’ and embellish stories on social media.

Nearly 40% of fibbers put their dishonesty down to feeling pressure to have a good time or sound upbeat in their updates, and more than a quarter (29%) reckon their lives are just too boring without embellishment. Hardly surprising then that 40% admit to feeling envious of others’ posts.

Interestingly, men are just as dishonest when it comes to ‘microblagging’, with their primary motivation being to maintain a ‘cool online persona’, and being twice as likely as women to want to impress their workplace colleagues (22% vs 8%). While the fellas prefer Twitter, women are more likely to ‘Fakebook’, and are more likely to doctor photos using editing software before uploading it to the site.

The research also found that offline most tall tales take place at work, with 63% of respondents over-hyping a story among colleagues. So social media really is a digital water cooler!

It’s no mean feat promoting supermarket clothing ranges, namely because coveted terms such as ‘cutting edge’ and ‘trend setting’ are already reserved for catwalks or established high street brands. However, UK supermarket Tesco has seen a fair amount of success in touting its F&F label in previous months, most notably back in February alongside British Plus Size Fashion Weekend.

Now, to welcome the long overdue summer, the label has launched a new campaign designed to get shoppers thinking about their seasonal look, while promoting both its new collection and the launch of its official Pinterest channel.

The ‘Seven Days of Summer’ initiative encourages F&F fans to upload a picture of themselves rocking one of the season’s key trends, from stripes to sixties, via Facebook; by creating a mood board on Pinterest; or by tweeting their look with the corresponding hashtag. Those taking part stand to win a £75 F&F voucher, or – in a bid to generate more content – a £500 F&F shopping spree if they enter each day.

A competition like this running across three of the top social channels makes for valuable insight into the workings of the great social hive mind – where’s most of the action happening? Of course, the competition is being pimped equally across the platforms, but while the Facebook component comes with a slick upload app and gallery function, there’s not a great deal going on in the blue and white kingdom. There are several comments and likes, but visit the gallery and you’re presented with the same entry pictures regardless of the filters selected, indicating that well, there’s not that many. It’s worth noting that in order to enter in this way, users must complete a personal information form. A barrier to engagement, no doubt.

Over on Pinterest, meanwhile, there’s a considerable amount of noise – as you’d expect for a competition encouraging mood boarding, of which Pinterest’s community is so fond. However, while F&F is asking entrants to repin their boards as means of entry, most are simply linking to their boards underneath F&F’s competition shout outs, so as to ensure organizers do see their creations. It’s rather chaotic.

It’s only on Twitter, then, that we’re seeing the hallmarks of a solid social competition. There are no barriers to entry and no potentially-complicated or confusing entry requirements. It’s also possible for users to enter via a mobile phone, tablet, laptop or desktop – something which presents problems when it comes to the Facebook component. On Twitter, users just tweet @ClothingatTesco with a picture and a hashtag and they’re done. It’s easy to enter on a whim and on the move.

While this tells us a lot about the challenges Facebook is up against nowadays, these findings do reaffirm that when it comes to engagement, convenience is most certainly key. Customers are not going to jump through hoops to populate brand campaigns and content galleries – certainly not for a £75 voucher, at least.

Tesco, the world’s third largest retailer, has launched a new site that allows customers to group together to buy wine in bulk at reduced prices.

Tesco Wine Co-buys uses Buyapowa social commerce software to connect customers wishing to purchase wine in bulk – completely legitimately – on the cheap. Shoppers register interest in products, the most popular of which is then put forward for sale. Customers then commit to a maximum price, but as more people get involved the price drops. How do others get involved? Social media, of course!

Committed shoppers are encouraged to share the deals via Facebook and Twitter, with the individual ‘recruiting’ the most buyers winning a case of wine.

The site will initially run as a 12-week trial, but already Tesco is said to be considering extending the model to further categories, which could include health and beauty, home and garden, and sports goods.

Tesco director of digital and social Tom Daniell said: “There’s a real social element to traditional shopping and there’s no reason why shopping online shouldn’t be just as fun. Family and friends love to shop together and seek out a bargain and co-buying lets customers easily share deals online and use collective buying power to get a great deal.”

This very shiny, consumer-friendly video explains it all a bit more.