Black Friday Week of focus! Social Analytics of Shoes! My 2 fav subjects! #socbiz #socialanalytics

So 2 of my favorite things:  Shoes and Social Analytics.   IBM showcased its Value on Social Analytics in showcasing a fav buy of everyone in the Black Friday Sales!   Shoes!

 

 

A look back at the last 100 years of shoe fashion trends reveals that heel heights soared during the most prominent recessions in U.S. history.  Low-heeled flapper shoes in the 1920s were replaced with high-heel pumps and platforms during the Great Depression.  Platforms were again revived during the 1970s oil crisis, reversing the preference for low-heeled sandals in the late 1960s.  And the low, thick heels of the 1990s “grunge” period gave way to “Sex and the City”-inspired stilettos following the dot-com bust at the turn of the century. 

An analysis of the last four years of social media showed that discussions of increasing heel height peaked towards the end of 2009, and declined after that.  For example, key trend-watching bloggers between 2008 and 2009 wrote consistently about heels from five to eight inches, but by mid 2011 they were writing about the return of the kitten heel and the perfect flat from Jimmy Choo and Louboutin.  This is not to say that the sky-high heels have gone, rather that, as the economic downturn has wore on, they are discussed as glamwear and not for the office or shopping trip.

Here’s how the analysis was conducted: first, IBM used special analytics software to search billions of social media posts to identify individuals discussing shoes. This initial category contained tens of thousands of posts. Next, the software narrowed the list down to those who are key online influencers in the area of footwear – bloggers, for example. The software relied on special algorithms that rated the popularity of these influencers by zeroing in on the ones who sit in the center of large social networks – that is, writers of blogs that many other blogs link to and which in turn link to many blogs. These bloggers aren’t traditional “experts” – they don’t work in the footwear industry, for example. But they are passionate footwear enthusiasts with large followings. 

Finally, the software analyzed the content of the social media sites, looking specifically for discussions of shoe height. 

 


Good morning Monday! Social Business Coffee Break - Gamification #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #ibm

Continuing our Social Business Coffee Breaks!

This week the focus will be on Gamification!

Gamification


Where will App Dev for SoMo be done? #ibm #ibmsocialbiz #socbiz

Interesting to me from the IBM study that there is going to be more app dev on Android than Apple.

 


SoMo Top Client Use Cases from #IBM Study! #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #mobile

IBM completed a 2011 Trends in the market and in the Mobile side, we identified with around 3000 people the most common use cases for Social - Mobile better known as SoMo.   I'll be posting case studies on these scenarios, like the one we saw for Hilton yesterday, around these scenarios.   Do you have any Great examples?


Hilton masters SoMo! #mobile #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #ibm #hilton

This week's theme is SoMo....which is the Social and Mobile codependency!  The example is Hilton.  Hilton Worldwide drive real business value, including:

1.Improved overall guest experience
2.Drive down cost
3.Set a standard for how hotels should be

Check out the Hilton iPad Custom Apps that drives competitive advantage – Virtual Concierge Application.   It features 

•Room-service menus (plus the ability to order food),

•Spa and fitness information (plus the ability to book appointments)

•Transportation, maps, & valet-parking information

including all the things you’d find on a printed compendium in the guest room desk drawer, such as room-service menus (plus the ability to order food), spa and fitness information (plus the ability to book appointments), transportation, maps, and valet-parking information. “If somebody wanted dinner, they could navigate to the menu portion of the app, look at images of the food, add it to their cart, click “check out,” and it would arrive at their room just as if they’d picked up the phone and ordered it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWkh0-ADzB0&feature=player_embedded]


Nov 16! E2.0 Keynote on the Three Headed Mobile Monster! #ibmsocialbiz #socbiz #ibm

Catch it livestreaming on Wed November 16th !!!   Click on Wed!

http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/e2-santa-clara-2011

And would love your thoughts!

Sandy


SoMo: Leading Black Friday (or Thursday!) #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #ibm

From our latest IBM Retail study, this Black Friday will be very SoMo focused!

Starting on Black Friday (or Thursday), an unprecedented 15 percent of people in the U.S. will log onto a retailer’s web site through a mobile device. 

IBM reports that in October nearly 11 percent of people used a mobile device to log onto a retailer’s site, up from 4.2 percent in October 2010. Additionally, mobile sales continue to increase, reaching a high of 9.6 percent in October 2011, up from 3.4 percent in October 2010.

One of the new trends expected to take place is among Android users. And for the first time, the growing number of Android users will demonstrate similar levels of mobile shopping as iPhone users. These October 2011 numbers show iPhone accounting for 4 percent of mobile traffic and Android 3.5 percent. The iPad will also play a big role in holiday shopping this season. In October, iPad conversion rates reached 6.8 percent as compared to the overall mobile device conversion rate of 3.6 percent.

IBM also says that mobile shoppers will display a laser focus on buying this season that surpasses that of other online shoppers with a 44.2 percent bounce rate on mobile devices versus online shopping rates of 37.3 percent.

Social influence, mainly from Facebook, will also play an increased role in the buying process this holiday season. According to October conversion rates, 9.2 percent of consumers that visited a retail site from a social media site made a purchase. This compares to 5.5 percent of all direct online shopping last year.

All signs point to this holiday season being a big one for SoMo!!!

 


Hot off the presses - New IBM Study on SoMo! Social Mobile! #mobile #e20conf #ibmsocialbiz

The 2011 Tech Trends Report surveyed more than 4,000 Information Technology (IT) professionals from 93 countries and 25 industries who provided their views on future IT trends. The results also show a growing need for technical skills in the areas of business analytics, social business, mobile computing, open source technologies and cloud computing. Read the report at:  http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/techtrendsreport, share your opinions at #TechTrends and see what IBM experts are saying about the findings at: www.youtube.com/IBMEcosystem

The world has gone mobile and that means big opportunities for developers, business partners and entrepreneurs.

· Everyone’s doing it: Three of four survey respondents are currently working in mobile computing

· Its an App World: The top focus areas for mobile are enterprise app development, Industry specific apps and extending mobile to core applications

· Openness is key: The openness and ease of development make Android the platform of choice for developers (70%) vs iOS (49%)

· Region differences: The US and Russia are building infrastructure while India and China are building applications


SoLoMo: Social and Mobile 101

Social, Local and Mobile go together.  SoLoMo -- it's the buzzword du jour meaning "Social, Local and Mobile"  These days, everybody is talking about social features, local business (i.e. coupons) and mobile applications.

And at IBM, we help our clients understand how the "SoLoMo" sector can be applied to business.

In the video, I call out what IBM calls Social Business. A Social Business does more than use Twitter and put up a Facebook Fan page. A Social Business means that every department, from HR to marketing to product development to customer service to sales, uses social media the way it uses any other tool and channel to do its job.

A social business is an organization that uses social networking tools and mobile devices fluently to communicate with people inside and outside the company. It's a strategic approach to shaping a business culture. Becoming a Social Business can help an organization deepen customer relationships, generate new ideas faster, identify expertise and enable a more effective workforce.

Social networking has had a profound effect on society, couple this with the explosion of mobile devices and new Cloud delivery models, a perfect storm of industry trends is merging that makes this the right time to move social from the hands of teens to business.

Be a part of the SoLoMo discussion and join us on Twitter using hashtag #IBMsocialbiz

Proof? 

  • 68% of social networking users do so on a mobile device
  • More than a quarter of all US adults (28%) use mobile or social location-based services of some kind (source: Pew Research Center)

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