According to recently released Q3 results, Alexis was one of many who now carry their iPads around with pride – one of 3.27 million, to be exact. In TechCrunch’s words – Apple Obliterated Q3 Earnings Estimates – and we’re happy to admit that we were a part of that! Apple’s third quarter broke the record both in total revenue and in total Mac units sold.  That sounds pretty spectacular as is, but compared to last year, an even more impressive leap can be seen. Apple’s Q3 2010 revenue exceeded Q3 2009′s by 61%. Mac growth was up 33%, and Apple’s total income was up 78% from a year before.

Holy sales, Apple! Here in Tempe, we will do our best to keep supporting you!

Like I said though, this is all old news (no pun intended). The real, less talked about fear is that future generations won’t have an interest in news at all. That not only would destroy the news industry, but would threaten the state of the nation.  An article from the American Journalism Review, Beneath the Tattoos examines this problem, but luckily there seems to be hope for the future.

The article is based on a Pew Research Center study that basically details the average Millennial from head to toe.  The study defines a Millennial as one who is currently aged 18-29, or born between the years of 1980 and 1992. Over the next year, the oldest of this generation will be celebrating their 30th birthdays.  The article seeks to answer if this also means the onset of their maturity, as it did with previous generations.  Possibly, but there’s a catch. Even if these Millennials start to “grow up”, researchers still expect no change in technological habits.  Millennials state that the biggest thing that separates them from other generations is their use of technology. With their laptops, iPhones, BlackBerries, Droids, and iPads, these tech-savvy consumers have little intent to sit at a table with a newspaper and nothing else.  In fact, only 24% of them cite newspapers as their primary source of news.

However, there is an upside.  Compared to other generations when they were the same age, Millennials are more likely to vote, more likely to be civically engaged, and better educated.  Sounds like a group of people who would like to keep up with news to me.  In fact, it sounds quite far from the self-obsessed, video-game playing bums they’re stereotyped as.  So maybe the future is not in such bad hands, after all.  Now it is just a matter of seeing if the news companies can keep up!

One in four conventional apartment residents believe that a community’s social media efforts have no impact. In fact, only 7% of  conventional apartment residents state that they have ever visited an apartment community’s social media page. Also, the majority of that minority group visited social media pages only as prospective tenants, to read comments about the property.

What does this mean for apartment marketing? We do not believe it is any indication that social media should not be used, or even that it should be used less.  It simply means that these social media efforts require a much higher amount of effort spend trying to engage residents.  If residents have a reason to read and reply to social media efforts, they will.  Other items residents are likely to respond to are event ideas, photos of new amenities, and blog posts.  We’ve actually noticed that one of our clients, Trillium Residential, has seen a continued increase in residents “liking” their fan pages, and the high number of fans brings more and more engagement! So it’s not a lost cause – keep posting, communities, and engage those residents!

How do you think apartment communities can be more engaging? What would you like to see on their pages? Let us know!

The full impact of LeBron’s decision is best seen through internet traffic.  Type in “LeBron James” in Google.com, and:

5,391 related articles on ESPN, and 1,987 on Washington Post all related to this decision? I have a feeling this sort of frenzy has not shown up with other sports icons. LeBron has timed the publicity perfectly.  He’s kept everyone in the dark for as long as possible, making sure that everyone is talking about him.  And, in case ESPN, Google, Sports Illustrated, NBA.com, and just about every news outlet known to man weren’t enough, LeBron decided to (again, timed appropriately) enter the world of micro-blogging on Twitter.com. His entry was announced by friend Chris Paul Tuesday morning, who tweeted:

Oneandonlycp3: **Couldn’t convince him to tell me which team he’s goin to but convinced him to join twitter lol…my brother from another mother @KINGJAMES

Unfortunately for Paul, within a few hours LeBron had beat him in number of followers.  In fact, only two days later, James is now nearing 315,000 followers. His most recent tweet encouraged the excitement:

KINGJAMES: Good Morning! It’s your chance to ask me a question about my decision, use #lebrondecision to submit and I’ll answer them tonight.

Apparently, someone taught him how to use Twitter quite well. The questions are rolling in, with questions about what influenced his decision, and what it would take him to go to a certain team.  One humorous post was:

anesduvall: #lebrondecision would you go on national tv to break up with your girlfriend

Unfortunately, that is how many people are viewing his one hour national TV special tonight on ESPN, appropriately named The Decision.  Though the proceeds go to charity, many Cavaliers fans feel betrayed that he is announcing his decision on air.  If he chooses to go to Miami, New York, or New Jersey, Cavs fans will be left in the dust – “broken up” with on national TV.

All in all, LeBron James, we at Serendipit Consulting compliment your ability to rouse all this conversation.  Whatever your decision, congratulations on some great PR.

While the article cites that some changes had previously been released, many are brand new, and very exciting to the world of journalism. These 42 changes are specific to Social Media, and help journalists understand how to best use online tools like Facebook and Twitter.

A few highlights of the changes:

• “Web site” is officially “website”
• “Smart phone” is officially two words
• “BRB”, “G2G”, and “ROFL” officially made the cut

The one tidbit of information that I found the most interesting: while “unfriend” and “defriend” are both now official AP accepted words, the Guidelines cite “unfriend” as the recommended, more common choice.

Here at Serendipit, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest copy.  To get your very own, or learn more about the newest guidelines, visit the self-proclaimed “Journalist’s Bible” at AP Stylebook Online.

Facebook Credits offer a service quite similar to PayPal accounts.  This “currency” would eliminate the need for Facebook’s 400 million active users to sign up for another account to make online purchases, as they can simply utilize “Facebook Connect” to use their pre-purchased Facebook Credits.  Though currently there is no huge incentive to purchase Facebook Credits, Schafer’s article states that as indicated by Zynga’s recently signed 5-year contract with Facebook, this may be changing very quickly.

Schafer makes four predictions for what e-commerce may soon look like:

1. Facebook Credits are backed by actual national currencies and will render exchange rates at points-of-sale moot.

To me, this was the most interesting idea.  Schafer compares Facebook Credits to the historic Gold Exchange Standard, which basically fixed a currency’s exchange rate to another country already on the Gold Standard.  This then placed a value to each unit of currency, which corresponded with a certain unit of gold. The linkage of several different currencies to Facebook Credits inspired me to do a little research.  According to Facebook.com:

• 50 Facebook Credits = $5 US, 4.08 Euro, or $5.23 Canadian
• According to XE.com, on May 20, 2010, $5 US = 4.003 Euro, or $5.34 Canadian

This shows the slight volatility of the Facebook Credit, as its value changes according to each currency based on the ever-changing exchange rate.  If purchased today, Canadians get a slightly better value out of purchasing Facebook Credits than do Americans or Europeans.

2. Facebook Credits may become the one global mobile payment platform.

Facebook offers a few statistics that back this up.  Approximately 25% of Facebook users are also Facebook mobile users.  Facebook also suggests that Facebook mobile users are twice more active on the site than are non-mobile users.  If the power of the Facebook Credit grows, it would be very practical for mobile shoppers to use it as their preferred form of currency.

3. It may spell the end for PayPal and Google Checkout, or they may become re-energized as the Facebook alternatives.

The difference between Facebook and Paypal is obvious: over 300 million users.  While Google Checkout is in a state of growth, if Facebook Credits catch on, the vast number of users may enable Facebook to commandeer the market.

4. Purchases can be shared as part of the Facebook experience.

The article questions the attractiveness of this.  It is widely accepted that this will create many problems with privacy, in addition to the ones that already exist.  However, this may be an opportunity for businesses to create promotions around this idea of sharing.  If Facebook users opt to share their purchases with friends, an opportunity is presented to not only increase the value of the brand, but also the value of post quality from the user.  If businesses offer an additional value, for example additional Credits or discounts, users will have a much greater incentive to share.

From a brand’s perspective, this expands the functionality of using Facebook for marketing.  It will enable greater understanding of Facebook user purchase intentions, allow sales tracking, and provide a more concrete platform for increased user interaction.

What do you see in the future of Facebook Credits? Will it truly take over the e-commerce and m-commerce business?

The other day, I read the iMedia Connection article “Social Referrals: How to Attract This Vital Currency” by Liza Hausman and I realized how truly important social referrals are to a brand’s Web traffic. Because of the “word-of-mouth” nature of social networks, socially referred traffic is usually high quality and the benefits are more immediate and powerful than any other referral.

Hausman outlines three steps to generating social traffic:

1. Adding social connectivity. Maximize the number of potential participants by adding a wide variety of choices for social networking – not just the basics (like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).
2. Enhancing the connected experience. Optimize the quality and quantity of content and activity shared by users by keeping users on your site for the entire sharing process, building sharing into the overall flow and allowing users to sign-in with social network identities . Also, by making it easy for users to simultaneously share to multiple networks, audience potential grows.
3. Improving efforts through advanced social analytics. Businesses need to be able to test and measure changes in user activity by social network and make changes based on that actionable data.

After reading the article, I was intrigued to find out exactly how much traffic Serendipit and our clients’ websites get from social referrals. Although our numbers are on a much smaller scale than those of USA Today,  Yahoo and CNN, more than 95% of Serendipit’s traffic comes through either Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or StumbleUpon referrals.

Yes, the three steps listed above are vital to beginning social referral traffic. However, businesses must take their social networking to the next level. Engage in conversations on all sites possible, connect with people who share similar professional and personal interests and be a part of the action as much as you’d like to see others in action for you.

What does your company do to engage users and boost social traffic to your site?

Panelists included:

• Peter Kasperski, Owner of the infamous Cowboy Ciao and Kazimierz
• Jane Rau, Co-Founder of McDowell Sonoran Conservancy
• Charlie Smith, Former Scottsdale Council Member
• Trevor Barger, Founder of Espiritu Loci

As a newbie to the Scottsdale community, it was especially interesting for me to hear about the history and future vision for the expansive city I live in from movers and shakers who truly make a difference here. As each speaker mentioned, it is incredibly important that members of the community share one vision in order to attain our goals.  Kudos to Scottsdale Leadership for encouraging and engaging citizens in a discussion that could ignite the fire to achieve the city we all want and hope for.

Click here to become a fan of the Serendipit team!

Looking forward to connecting!

As she points out, millions of organizations and municipalities use social media to push out their message, and the difference in success and mediocrity using social networking is listening. Her main point in the article was to define some key ways to encourage change in the community through use of social media. Here’s a quick summary:

1. Be a grassroots activist. Share information and opinions with your followers. Spread the message and share facts with others so that they can educate themselves about the issue.
2. Promote events and meet people. Use social media to share community events that you’re planning or attending, whether your purpose is to raise funds, sell tickets or meet attendance goals. Use creativity to spread your message!
3. Say “thanks” to leaders who rock. The value of a simple thank you note is underestimated – use social media to publicly acknowledge people who make a difference to you.