I’m a massive eBay fan. If I’m not buying, I’m selling and if I’m not doing either of those I’m browsing – it’s a 24 hour junk sale and I can’t imagine life without it. However in the current economic crisis with so many businesses suffering, is eBay destined to sink or set to thrive?

My first thought was that it’ll be more popular than ever. With people feeling too guilt-ridden to treat themselves to more expensive purchases, it’s the ideal place to visit for some retail therapy on the cheap. But looking within the eBay community it seems sales are slowing. Especially for products such as collectables and antiques – where a large portion of their business lies.  The BBC recently reported that eBay now expects 2008 revenues to total between $8.53bn and $8.68bn - below a previous estimate of $8.8bn to $9.05bn.  

Could it be the case that the people who don’t use eBay never will do, and the people that do are tightening their purse strings? Like last year I expect I’ll do a large chunk of my Christmas shopping on eBay, however I will be spending less. Whatever happens I really hope eBay’s future is safe, and with a total revenue estimate of around $8.53bn, I think it just might be.

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As the title says, it is a common misconception that Facebook is gradually killing Twitter. Why? Because not only does it do the same, but it also allows to do more. Well, it isn’t as basic as you’d think.

Yes, some people are shifting from Twitter to Facebook, but the fact is most users are actually keeping both accounts. Why? Because they serve two different purposes:

- Twitter is a much more simple and direct way to communicate. I doesn’t need a complex registration or building a profile page. It is also much more mobile compatible - due to it’s simplicity - and it allows users to directly talk and feed from each other without the crowd of multiple application feedback (try to set apart a Facebook tweet from a notification that the
user has been bidded on “Owned”…). It allows a more fluent conversation, while Facebook doesnt.

- Facebook is a social network per se - it allows multiple interactions and uses, from profile pages to applications to picture gallery. It tries to be everything at the same time. I could go on forever about Facebook, but why bother? If you don’t know it yet, then you need to seriously get out of the cave and join the online community.

So what does it come down to? Well, for starters, Facebook’s use is a lot easier to identify by the common user than Twitter. A lot of newbies or offliners are still wondering “just why the heck do people use Twitter for?”. This leads to the segmentation of the users of each site. Twitter users are, generally speaking, advanced social networkers, while Facebook users are middle-level social networkers. What about low level? Let’s consider Live Messenger as the basic networking tool.
User wise, Twitter has 3 328 420 registered accounts up till now, while Facebook has 120 000 000. It is a big difference in audience size, but we are considering effectiveness here.

The other point that sets Facebook and Twitter apart is the potencial for Brands. Twitter is an effective way to broadcast to your audience - as a lot of Brands already did - while Facebook is a good place to set up engagement with the Brand. If you want to simplify it, Twitter is a tool for the brands much like a giant microphone, while Facebook is like an offline Stand where you can spin the wheel and win prizes. While different, both serve a purpose - communicating with the target.

So is Facebook killing the Twitter star? Well, not really. Twitter is still an effective communication tool IF the brand has a purpose for it. Facebook, on the other hand, is becoming a MUST HAVE for the Brands. In the end, both are important - but the bottom line is complex SN Websites come and go - simple ones stay. Of course, if brands want to communicate massively, if you look at numbers, Facebook has a broader audience… but a lot more noise in the middle of the communication. Twitterers that are feeding from a Brand’s Twitter will only see what the Brand is saying.

So consider both in your communication - just do it in a sensible way.

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Infographics are getting hot these days and, riding this trend, the Economist launched a juicy advertising campaign showing us, once more, how to be effective without using stunning images and talking to a selected audience.

And if you want to know more about the possibilities of visual information beyond the classical field of diagrams, take a look at DATA FLOW, an inspiring book, published by Gestalten, concerning complexity, simplification and readability solutions in information design.

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However among the beauty blogging community there are a few gems. People who write with passion and energy, people that make you want to read their whole site from back to front.

Bloggers who truly love their subject matter stand out by a mile. However putting talented, passionate bloggers aside, here are some amusing articles I thought you’d all enjoy:

How not to look fat in a dress
Fed up with getting it wrong? Frustrated looking back at pictures of you looking drab, dreary and worst of all, lardy? This handy article illustrates 16 foolproof tips to herald the end of the frock faux-pas.

How to cope with a freezing office
Suffer from pneumonia-inducing air con in your place of work? Check out shefinds.com’s essential survival tips.

False eyelashes for men!
Boys this one’s for you! The craze in mancake (male make-up) has reached all new levels with Eylure releasing their Natural Lashes for men.

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1/ Interviewing an hologram

2/ Large Touch Screen that allows the anchor to manipulate images and data

Both have been heavily mocked by the Saturday Night Live and Daily Show teams, and you can understand why. But I really enjoyed watching the presentator dig into layers and layers of data, state by state, last Thursday.

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While NFL broadcasts the traditional Sunday Night games on NBC, the online show takes advantage of the technology, offering 4 extra cameras for viewers to choose desired angle. Via Slate.

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1/ Donate your status to one of the candidates with the Causes application:

2/ Find on a map where your polling place is from the Facebook Election Page (no red pin for me, just a Ben & Jerry’s promo cone though):

3/ Tell your friends you’ve voted from Facebook’s homepage:

4/ And check how many Facebookers declared their vote at the top of your NewsFeed:

Pretty cool. I wonder if other countries will be as active and engaged when it comes to major national elections.

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“If you care enough to vote, we care enough to give you a free cup of coffee”, the ad that was launched during Saturday Night Live last weekend says. It’s the first time the chain has done such a promotion. More on the Wall Street Journal.

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The picture they presented sounded like a forecast of the Future in 10 years time… However it is Japan’s reality, right now. So here are the figures:

- 90% of the subscribers use the mobile web;
- 90% will be on 3G by the end 2008;
- At the Present, almost 1/2 are GPS enabled phones;
- The Mobile commerce market has hit 10B USD*

It is predictable that TV watching (w/ digital TV tuner) and video sharing will soon become a top mobile entertainment. You Tube on mobile and Nico Nico Video Sharing are already becoming a clear trend.

IC wallets are being integrated with mobile phones by default. This mobile electronic payment method already has 28.5 million subscribers (as of Mar 31, 2008) and is accepted in Public transportations, supermarkets and vending machines.

So why did this market grow so rapidly in Japan?
A combination of broad coverage of 3G network, flat-rate data plans and a bigger influence of the operators upon mobile ecosystem than in GSM markets did the trick.

Regarding the mobile ad market, the latest trends clearly promote the mobile ad market expansion:
- A new governmental regulation imposed GPS for all 3G phones by default (for security reasons);
- Top 2 operators have integrated Google as default search (thus enabling Google AdWords revenue);
- Massive growth of “non-official” sites (the Long Tail effect on mobile content).

The forecast for overall Mobile Ad Spending in Japan is 1.284 million USD by 2011.**

Sponsored listings and Location-based mobile ads are growing rapidly, due to:
- Strong publisher network in Japan;
- Proved performance for advertisers (Local Ads have 395% Greater CTR than Non-Local Ads);
- Proved performance for publishers (Local Ads have 826% Greater CPM than Non-Local Ads).

The most successful categories of advertisers are: Food & Restaurant, Educational Institutions, Local Jobs and Employment, Educational Institutions, Beauty salons and Car dealers.

The image above is “heat map” of mobile ad impressions in Tokyo.

*Source: Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
**Source: DentsuInc., 2007

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After their partnership with YouTube last year for the Primaries, CNN gets the Facebook treatment ›

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