David A. Yovanno is the CEO of Gigya, Inc., a leading social optimization platform for online business. He can be found on Twitter at @daveyovanno or e-mail dave(at)gigya(dot)com.

Now that most social networks are supporting functionality on third party sites — via Facebook Connect, Sign in with Twitter, Yahoo! Open Strategy, MySpaceID, and other similar technologies — entertainment companies are experimenting with a variety of approaches.

While movie promotions on Facebook, top sports moments on YouTube, and MySpace music pages remain key fixtures, many entertainment companies are also now actively focused on how to apply social strategies to their own sites to deepen relationships with fans and become more relevant. Here are four ways on-site social features are benefiting both fans and the entertainment industry today.

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1. Making TV Participatory

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TV has historically been a “lean back” form of entertainment -– just sit back on your couch and let your eyes and ears take it in. Reality TV shows like American Idol broke new ground by making TV participatory -– fans can take action and influence the outcomes — and social technologies are now helping to make TV a “lean forward” experience.

In the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars, ABC made the voting process social. Fans could sign-in to abc.com with a Facebook or Twitter account to cast a vote for their favorite couple, and then donate their status to help support that pair. For example: “Vote to keep Louie Vito and Chelsea Hightower dancing on ABC!”

In the realm of real-time engagement, another example comes from MTV, which enabled live chat for previously aired episodes of the popular show 16 and Pregnant on MTV.com, where viewers could discuss the often controversial content with other fans.

Benefit for fans: Viewers are empowered to not only vote, but get out the vote among friends. Voting with a Facebook or Twitter identity makes voting a personal, rather than anonymous, experience. For 16 and Pregnant, teens have a live forum for sharing thoughts and experiences.

Benefit for TV networks: Fans are highly engaged with the show online, and the shows gain significant exposure on social networks from donated status updates. Traffic is generated back to the show online and off. Offering users a choice of networks for participation appears to boost engagement. For example, data from Gigya shows that for a single episode of 16 and Pregnant, tens of thousands of messages were sent by chat users to their social networks with the following distribution: 40% to Yahoo, 29% MySpace, 24% Facebook, and 7% Twitter.

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2. Bringing Live Sporting Events to Life Online

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In the real world, sports fans experience events together, whether live at the stadium, with buddies at a sports bar, or with family in front of a new 50” LCD TV. Recognizing this, sports media are trying to make online viewership a bit more like the real world.

A slew of sports media added live social chat to their event webcasts this year, enabling fans to participate online alongside the event using their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Yahoo identity. TNT used it for the NBA Eastern Conference finals and NASCAR Race Buddy series, CBS for its College Football series, NBA.com for ongoing games, and the PGA for the summer tour events including the PGA Championship. Fan messages about the game were syndicated to the social networks as news items in the feed. Even Roddy White of the Atlanta Falcons has gotten into the act on his own website.

Benefit for fans: Live social media integration provides an opportunity to chat about stats, players, and highlights, and to virtually high-five other fans or friends –- almost as if they were watching together in person.

Benefit for sports media: Fans participating with real identities adds authenticity to the socializing. Interactivity means fans are highly engaged, generating more page views, and messages shared to the social networks drive more traffic back to the online event, creating a virtuous cycle.

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3. Giving Music Lovers an Outlet for Self-Expression

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MySpace proved years ago the power of grass roots social efforts to take an artist from obscurity to household name, with Sara Bareilles one of the poster children for resisting the traditional label model. Now music companies large and small are putting social channels to work, and taking a number of new approaches in the last year.

MuchMusic, a music channel on Canadian cable TV, incorporated celebrity tweets and live chat into their MuchMusic awards, bringing fans “backstage” to a behind the scenes interview room. Similarly, MTV incorporated live social chat into its webcast of the “Hope for Haiti” telethon with the aim of further engaging viewers for a special cause.

Reverbnation, a music marketing platform that helps individual artists manage promotion, fan relationships, and other aspects of the business, built a feature enabling fans to register on the site using their social network identity, then build and share their favorite playlists into the feed on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Rather than help the artists build a presence on the social networks and send fans away, Reverbnation has integrated their own site directly with those key platforms to make themselves a one stop shop for the social music ecosystem.

Benefit for fans: Social integration creates an outlet for communicating with other fans, and sharing passion for artists and music –- whether in the form of a comment or their own playlist creation.

Benefit for music sites and artists: Integration provides greater exposure for artists and tracks as well as increased page views for the site.

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4. Driving Word-of-Mouth for Movies

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Word of mouth is everything in the movie industry. Buzz puts fans in seats, and is the benchmark by which the industry gauges traction for marketing efforts. It’s no surprise that studios are experimenting more with social media far beyond basic trailer promotion.

The movie Paranormal Activity broke new ground by using grass roots efforts and word-of-mouth to build buzz and gain a wider distribution for the film. They also took advantage of social media promotion, enabling fans to invite their friends from social networks to join them at the same time that they purchased movie tickets.

Twentieth-Century Fox, together with MTV, got fans directly involved to promote Avatar. They put on a first-ever live interview with James Cameron and the Avatar cast, answering questions from fans, who in turn shared their reactions in a real-time chat via Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Yahoo.

Benefit for fans: Movie goers receive greater access to their favorite films and celebrities.

Benefit for movie studios: The campaigns generate new and widespread buzz before and during the theatrical release.

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Conclusion

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When fans connect to a company using a social network identity, they are establishing the basis for a longer-term relationship. The data shared by these connections will allow companies to better segment and serve their fans.

For example, in addition to awareness-generating efforts for individual films, a movie studio could gain greater insight into the specific demographics of those that are responding early to a release and adjust efforts accordingly. They could also more easily continue the dialog by remarketing to users around sequels or films in the same genre.

Whichever path entertainment companies choose, integrating social technologies on their own sites to deepen relationships with fans is a blockbuster opportunity.

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More social media resources from Mashable:

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- How Musicians Are Using Social Media to Connect with Fans
- How The Roxy Became the #1 Venue on Twitter [INTERVIEW]
- The Science of Building Trust With Social Media
- How Companies Are Using Your Social Media Data
- How Twitter in the Classroom is Boosting Student Engagement

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, MarsBars

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Reviews: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, iStockphoto, movie

Tags: business, facebook, facebook connect, MARKETING, myspace, myspaceid, social media marketing, twitter, Yahoo

Zynga is back on top of our list of the Facebook Pages that gained the most new fans over the last week. So are a handful of movies, more musicians, some food and a bunch of big brand names. These numbers come from Inside Facebook’s PageData tool.

	Name	Fans	Gain	Gain, %
1.	Texas Hold’em Poker	14,188,471	+693,046	+5.14
2.	Mafia Wars	10,271,284	+380,157	+3.84
3.	Converse All Star	2,399,071	+315,468	+15.14
4.	Papa John’s Pizza	1,112,684	+293,107	+35.76
5.	Pirates of the Caribbean	896,438	+264,439	+41.84
6.	The Artifice	3,095,279	+194,782	+6.72
7.	National Guard	394,328	+154,992	+64.76
8.	Justin Bieber	2,174,128	+121,571	+5.92
9.	Macy’s	376,015	+120,437	+47.12
10.	Lady Gaga	5,684,096	+117,414	+2.11
11.	redbox	174,247	+116,984	+204.29
12.	FaceMoods	905,700	+111,018	+13.97
13.	Mozilla Firefox	971,520	+104,051	+11.99
14.	Facebook	7,678,773	+101,652	+1.34
15.	Selena Gomez	3,898,738	+101,222	+2.67
16.	Alice in Wonderland	1,152,339	+100,832	+9.59
17.	Starbucks	6,211,975	+86,425	+1.41
18.	REMEMBER ME	505,946	+85,595	+20.36
19.	Zoosk	642,666	+83,126	+14.86
20.	The Twilight Saga	5,266,537	+83,060	+1.60

Zynga’s Texas Hold’em Poker is at number 1 with 693,000 new fans and Mafia Wars in second place with 380,000. Interestingly, some cross-promoting has started to pop-up on Texas Hold’em Poker’s Page for Mafia Wars; both games saw steady growth over the past week and Poker has more than 14 million fans now. FaceMoods, a Page with emoticons, landed twelfth place partly due to a like page consolidation of 47,000 fans on Saturday.

Converse All Star’s Page was on the list again this week, in third place, with almost no daily growth except for surges of probable page consolidations of 142,500 on Wednesday and almost 154,000 on Thursday. The Page’s total growth for the week was 315,468 fans.

Fourth place takes us to the food, Papa John’s Pizza grew by 293,000 fans to its current 1.1 million fan base, in large part due to a surge of 53,000 on Tuesday and almost 206,000 on Saturday, both likely due to Page consolidations. Another food Page and Top 20 regular, Starbucks, took the number 17 spot this week with 6.2 million fans, 86,000 of whom joined this past week, 35,000 of them probably consolidated on Saturday.

Then there were the movies.

Pirates of the Caribbean took the number 5 spot, growing 264,000 fans to a total fan base of 896,438; considering that growth was mostly flat and this is an older movie, additions were probably consolidations of about 69,000 on Friday and 194,000 on Saturday. Redbox, the fan Page for the convenient automated video stores was eleventh in fan growth this week, growing by almost 117,000 fans (the bulk of it, 91,000, on Saturday) to bring the total to 174,000.

“Alice in Wonderland,” saw steady growth and was number 16, growing by 100,800 fans to 1.1 million, probably because it was the top movie at the box office this past weekend. “Remember Me” at 18 with 85,000 more fans for a total of about 506,000 also raked in the dough at the box office while The Twilight Saga’s Page grew by 83,000 to land at number 20 and currently has upwards of 5 million fans. Twilight may have grown due to the release of the next installment’s trailer and two of the stars have movies either in theaters now (see number 18) or soon to be released (“The Runaways”).

A few popular musicians made the list again this week. Teen idol Justin Bieber at number 8 with growth of 121,500 fans and now pushing 2.2 million fans probably grew because he’s touring, promoting his upcoming album and one of his songs was set to hit iTunes this week. Lady Gaga, who premiered her “Telephone” video to much fanfare this week, was at number 10 with an increase of 117,000 fans, bringing her total to almost 5.7 million.

And another teenager, Selena Gomez, added 101,000 fans this week and almost has 3.9 million fans; growth might be explained by the fact that she just ended the third season of her show, is starting a European tour later this month and just landed a lead in big movie project.

There were also a bunch of Pages that grew either for unknown reasons or apparently because of page consolidations.

The Artifice, a mysterious film/world/project, was at number 6, adding almost 195,000 fans with steady growth, bringing the total to 3 million. The National Guard’s Page took seventh place, with 143,000 of this week’s 155,000 fans added on Saturday, probably a page consolidation. Macy’s department store added 120,000 fans with 103,000 added on Thursday.

Mozilla Firefox’s Page added 104,000 fans this past week, mostly in two surges on Saturday and Monday; the rest might have been due to Mozilla’s efforts to spread the word about Europe’s upcoming web browser choices. Facebook’s Page added 101,000 this week and was fourteenth while dating site Zoosk’s Page added 83,000 fans to take the number 19 spot.

It seems that the question on everyone’s mind over at SXSW this year is: What will be the next Twitter? Well, as our own Pete Cashmore said the other day during an interview with Bloomberg, and during a recent interview with Time.com’s Dan Fletcher: It’s all about location.

Twitter still remains a SXSW legend, even though some point to stats demonstrating that Twitter’s web traffic has been leveling off as of late. Still, the microblogging site asserts that it’s going as strong as ever, arguing that the true rubric for success is the number of tweets being sent out as opposed to the number of people logging on to Twitter via a web browser.

Now, location-sharing services like Foursquare seem to be creating a ton of buzz down South. Foursquare was first introduced a year ago at the SXSW conference in Austin, TX, and has only become more popular in the ensuing months — just the other day it garnered 347,000 checkins in a single day (mostly due to folks checking in in Austin). Other services like Gowalla have also joined the fray, as well as Facebook and Twitter, who have adopted or plan to adopt location features.

Check out the video below to see Pete chatting with Time at SXSW about Twitter and Foursquare, as well as how Mashable was born, the evolution of social networking, and what trends Pete sees dominating in 2010.

What do you think of the future of Twitter and the advent of location-sharing services? Let us know in the comments.

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Reviews: Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Mashable, Twitter

Tags: facebook, foursquare, gowalla, mashable, pete cashmore, sxsw-2010, twitter

A few hours ago, Twitter CEO Evan Williams keynoted SXSW in an on-stage interview with Umair Haque of Havs Media Lab. During it, Mr. Williams announced the @Anywhere platform and answered Mr. Haque’s questions.

While Mr. Haque did ask a lot of questions, some thought that he did not ask enough tough questions about the future of Twitter. Perhaps that’s why Twitter’s CEO decided to answer more questions via the microblogging site:

“I heard on the backchannel that people want me to answer tougher questions. What’ya want to know? Will answer 10. Go.”

The result was a flood of questions — and a flood of answers, including a few gems, including a definitive answer to: “Will Twitter be sold or merged in the next 2 years?”

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The Questions

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Before I dive into analysis, what I’m going to do is actually repost the first 12 questions and the answers Evan Williams gave in chronological order. Most of the questions he answered were superfluous or humorous, but I’ve bolded some very interesting questions and answers:

Q1: @ev why is location an after-thought?
A1: @bitcollector we didn’t start with location but are making serious in roads with it right now. It will be a major part of Twitter soon.

Q2: @ev when will you expand your capacity? The whale is cute and all but I see him way too often! Thank you!
A2: @MadysonsMallows we expand it every day. But we can do better.

Q3: @ev Here’s one: why is your api team so unresponsive?
A3: @mickhagen they’ve been really flooded and are getting more resources (2 new developer advocates this month). Also: come to Chirp

Q4: @ev OK, not a profit question. Soccer. Who will win the World Cup this year?
A4: @MatthewLumby sounds like you’re conflicted.

Q5: @ev What do you think is your next Aha! idea?
A5: @vivekunc always hard to know that ahead of time

Q6: @ev How do you see things settling out among Google, Facebook, and Twitter? Am interested because our daughter now works at Facebook.
A6: @BobMetcalfe she should probably apply at Twitter.

Q7: @ev What am I thinking right now?
A7: @TMDavenport @ladygaga

Q8: @ev Will @anywhere put API developers out of work?
A8: @steyblind only if they can’t think of what o do on top of it. It should allow them to create more value.

Q9: @ev what is your favorite bourbon?
A9: @thewebdawg now THAT’s a good question. I like Evan Williams Single Barrel, but that’s probably too obvious.

Q10: @ev Why would I ever, ever want a newspaper to @anywhere link to @anildash instead of using HTML to link to anildash.com?
A10: @anildash It’s not an either/or. It’s a hover action. Link still exists. Will result in more followers and ultimately traffic

Q11: @ev Why hasn’t Twitter named me as their Spirit Promoter since I made a Substancial Entity for Dialogue and Connection out of just tweeting
A11: @RoseProphecy um… Yeah. Have to think about that one.

Q12: @ev will Twitter be sold or merged in the next 2 years?
A12: @ds5384 No.

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The Big Question Still Remains…

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We’re still looking through the questions people asked and answers Mr. Williams gave, but we can say a few things:

- We like this transparent step by Twitter’s CEO with his very interested audience. He was perceptive of the audience reaction to his keynote and essentially opened up the floor to questions.

- With that said, he did not reveal all that much. Questions like the one below dominated his answers:

- The biggest piece was something we already suspected: That Twitter is not selling anytime soon.

- Another piece of news: Twitter will be revealing more details about how it will fight Facebook Connect at the Chirp conference. He provided this answer to GigaOm’s Om Malik.

- Twitter lists could be much better, and the team is working on making them a stronger feature.

Still, there are a lot of questions we have, including one we had hoped he would answer during his keynote today: Is there a Twitter advertising platform, and if so, when will it launch?

Hopefully we’ll get our answer soon. If not today directly from @Ev, then most likely at the Chirp conference next month.

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Reviews: Facebook, Google, Twitter

Tags: evan williams, facebook, social media, sxsw-2010, twitter

Social networking has finally become something valuable for brick-and-mortar businesses. Smartphones and location-based social networks allow users to interact, share, meet up, and recommend places based on their physical coordinates. This real-world connection to social media can mean more foot traffic and profits for business owners.

So-called “lo-so” networks like Foursquare, Loopt, and Gowalla enable any business with a physical location to not only communicate with customers online, but actually get more of them to walk in the door — and that’s exciting.

The question any brick-and-mortar business owner should be asking him or herself is no longer “Should I use lo-so networks?” It’s “How do I do it?” The following tips are essential to getting started.

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1. Learn the Platforms

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First of all, you need to understand how the technology works. Generally, people use lo-so apps on their phones to “check in” whenever they go places. Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) locate the users and determine what “venue” they might be at, giving them options to select a location or create a new listing. These “check ins” allow their friends to know where they are now, or where they frequently go. Some services allow users to leave location-based tips for friends to discover later, and several involve social competitions, or the ability to unlock digital badges, stickers, and prizes. Businesses can announce specials or promotions through these apps, so when users “check in,” they receive notifications of nearby deals.

Item one on your to-do list should be to become familiar with the prevailing platforms. Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Brightkite, and Google Latitude are the most talked about in general, though others exist, and popularity varies by geography (e.g. Foursquare reigns supreme in New York City, and Loopt has a lot of clout in Silicon Valley). Other platforms to be aware of include Yelp and Facebook, which are just now dabbling in lo-so. Sign up for all of these, and download the apps to your phone if you can, so you can become familiar with how someone would use each one. Most of the networks have iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry apps, and all of them allow you to “check in” via desktop and mobile web browsers.

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2. Determine Your Goals

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Before you can optimize your business for lo-social networking, you need to step back and determine what you want to accomplish.

• Are you hoping to increase foot traffic to your store?
• Do you want to sell more of a particular item?
• Do you want more patrons at certain times of day?
• Do you want to promote a specific product?
• Are you looking for new customer acquisition?
• Repeat customers?

You may say, “I want all of those,” but to be effective, you need to set specific objectives. These will determine your approach to the entire process. Luckily, if you need to change things around to fit new objectives in the future, the cost of doing so is very small.

One goal that should be on every business’s list is to be easily findable on every network, which brings us to number three:

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3. Establish Your Presence

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Make sure that your business is listed on each network. Then make sure the address, phone, and details are correct and current. Don’t assume that users have added everything correctly. On some networks, once a venue is there, it’s stuck. Others let you edit. Don’t be afraid to contact the network itself to ask them for help if you can’t fix your venue listing. Gowalla’s Jonathan Carroll says, “We receive dozens of e-mails a day from businesses around the world asking for additions or tweaks to their Gowalla locations, and we’re happy to help out with them.”

It’s also a good idea to put up notices or stickers (on the door, order counter, or table centerpieces, for example) announcing “We’re on Foursquare” or “Find us on Yelp.” This will remind people to “check in” and spread the word about you.

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4. Customize

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Different networks have different options for customization, but it’s important that you do as much as you can to build out your listing. Add your website. Integrate with your other social networking accounts, like Twitter. Features are constantly being added to each network, but great customizations you can try right now include the following:

On Foursquare: Create to-do lists for users to explore around your area. And if possible, work with Foursquare to create a custom badge for your venue or event.

On Gowalla: Ask for a custom icon for your location, rather than the generic one for your category. Examples: Shake Shack, NYC, Austin Java, and Coop Ale Works.

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5. Implement Compelling Promotions

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Lo-social networks allow you to run promos to increase engagement and get people into your store. Foursquare’s Tristan Walker says, “Any type of in-store promotion you can conceive we want to make it so Foursquare can run it.” Many businesses offer specials like “check in 10 times and get a free appetizer” on all the major lo-so networks. Establish well-conceived promotions based on your goals, then evaluate the results. The biggest mistake you can make is to do this sloppily or half-heartedly.

Carroll cites Lift Cafe as a good example. “They offer 10% off every purchase when you check in on Gowalla, which they include in their description and also as a reminder in the success screen after check-in.”

“[What] we’ve seen across all channels again and again is that what works is a good local offer,” says Loopt CEO Sam Altman. Businesses with offers that cater to people “making that gametime decision” when they’re out and about do the best. “Offer value to the customer so it doesn’t feel like an ad,” he advises.

Shelley Bernstein, Chief of Technology for the Brooklyn Museum, talks about how the institution uses Foursquare to create a multi-faceted campaign and experience for museum goers.

“We knew that many people coming here wanted to know more about the local neighborhood, which is something Foursquare does well. We asked our staff for their opinion of the best stuff in the neighborhood … and left tips at all these venues for Foursquare users to find. Second, we added a promo for our mayor to reward the people who are consistently identifying themselves with us. Third, Foursquare has given us a badge which unlocks after three visits, and this helps reward our community for coming in the doors.

“All of these things together help create a total presence on the platform that works well for the Foursquare community, the Brooklyn Museum visitor, and the local merchants in our neighborhood.”"

Common promotions across various networks include the following:

• Raffles (e.g. “Every person who checks in gets a chance to win an iPod.”)
• Specials for the user who checks in most often. This is a staple of Foursquare promos for a lot of venues (e.g. “Top user/mayor gets the first drink free every time he/she comes in.”)
• First check in specials (e.g. “Get 30% off your order when you check in for the first time.”)
• Digital punch cards (e.g. “Check in 5 times, get a free coffee.”)

Tips for developing effective promotions:

• Advertise particular incentives, rather than your business in general (“20% off between 2 and 4pm;” “Buy one burger, get one free;” etc.).
• On platforms that allow you create your own banner ads (such as Loopt), include your address and opening hours in the ad itself, when possible.
• Be creative. For example, Incase, the bag and protective case maker, recently ran a promo with Gowalla to put virtual versions of its products into the app to be collected and traded. Carroll remarks, “The result has been phenomenal: Thousands upon thousands of their virtual items have been distributed in Gowalla to an audience who could benefit from their products, but many of whom had not previously heard of Incase.”

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6. Engage With Your Customers

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It would be a mistake to use Twitter as a one-way corporate megaphone, never interacting with your audience. That’s a quick route to an audience of zero. One of the most effective uses of social media is personal engagement and relationship building with your audience. The same goes for lo-so networks.

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7. Track Everything

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Foursquare just released a slick analytics dashboard for venues to track their stats. Other networks have metrics you can view as well, and they’ll certainly be releasing better and better tools. From data you can study online to qualitative observations at your own store, it’s important to keep track of everything so you can learn what promotions work with your audience. Be aware, though, that your ROI may not be directly measurable, and aside from increased sales, you’re working for brand exposure and increased awareness of your business.

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8. Be Prepared to Adapt

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Location-based social network technology may be the newest and grooviest incarnation of social media, but it certainly won’t be the last. And in a year it won’t look exactly like it does today. Be prepared to adapt your methods when features change, as new tools emerge, and as you review your own promotional results. Again, keep your objectives in mind, and be ready to keep up with new technology.

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9. Avoid Common Pitfalls

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In talking with representatives from the major lo-so networks, several common mistakes came up. Here are a few things you should try to avoid:

• Don’t leave fake reviews or tips. They’re easy to spot, and you’ll lose all on- and off-line credibility immediately when people catch on.
• Don’t throw up poorly designed ads. “A badly designed banner ad performs so much worse than … a good one,” Altman says. “It’s an insane difference.”
• Don’t forget to monitor activity. Carroll points out, “Chances are if someone has a gripe or praise with their check-in, it’s a real-time thing: The patron is probably still there … so the business has a chance to make the experience even better.”

We’d love to hear about your own lo-so experiences. Let us know how location-based services have benefited your business in the comments!

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More location-based resources from Mashable:

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- 10 Foursquare Apps You Can Use Right Now
- 6 Foursquare Apps We’d Love to See
- 6 Tips for Getting the Most out of Foursquare
- Foursquare vs. Gowalla: Location-Based Throwdown
- Location, Location, Location: 5 Big Predictions for 2010

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Reviews: Android, BlackBerry Rocks!, Brightkite, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter, Yelp, iPhone

Tags: brightkite, business, facebook, foursquare, google latitude, gowalla, List, location, location-based, loopt, MARKETING, Mobile 2.0, small business, social media, social networks, twitter