How People Are Signing In Across the Web [STATS]

Identity management provider Janrain has just released its latest usage study detailing what social networks and services people use to sign in and share activities across the web.

As in its last report back in April, Google and Facebookcontinue to dominate websites that offer third-party login options. Across the 250,000 sites that use Janrain Engage,Google represents the preferred sign-in option for 38% of users.

Facebook is in second place, with 24% of sign-ins and Yahoo is in third place with 14%. Twitter, which is a popular option in certain segments, only accounts for 5% of generalized sign-in data.

Google is the dominant catch-all login in the aggregate, but other services, particularly Facebook, really take the lead when websites are segmented by type.

For example, for news media sites, Yahoo represents approximately 34% of all logins. For magazine publishers, Facebook is the clear choice amongst website visitors. Fifty-seven percent of logins are from Facebook, nearly triple its nearest competitor, Google, at 20%.

Likewise, with music sites, Facebook leads with 55% of logins and second place Twitter is at 18%. Retailbrand logins are also largely dominated by Facebook.

It makes sense that Facebook has such a strong presence in magazines, retail brands and in music. This can likely be tied with the brand and publishers’ usage of Facebook pages.

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Facebook and Twitter Dominate Sharing

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More and more publishers are integrating sharing options like Facebook Like buttons or the new Twitter Tweet buttons into their sites. Many publishers are seeing increases in traffic as a direct result of these sharing tools.

According to Janrain’s data, Facebook is the preferred sharing network for 53% of users. Twitter is close behind with 37%. Keep in mind, Janrain’s platform allows users to cross-share to multiple networks at once, which indicates that there may be some overlap.

Still, this is an important distinction from the single sign-in data. To us, this represents that while Google may be used as a frequent sign-in option — perhaps because of how closely the service is tied to an e-mail address — when it comes to engaging and identifying with information online, Facebook and Twitter are where users value their time.

by Christina Warren Mashable August 16, 2010

How People Are Signing In Across the Web [STATS]

MySpace getting makeover to compete with rivals

MySpace getting makeover to compete with rivals

by Jon Swartz USA Today Mar. 13, 2010 12:00 AM

BEVERLY HILLS - Facebook thumped it, and Twitter threatens it as a source for entertainment news and real-time searches.

But MySpace, nestled in the entertainment capital of the world, thinks it can survive - even thrive - as a repository for all things music, "Avatar" and "Twilight" for the under-35 crowd.

"It would be silly to count us out," says Jason Hirschhorn, who, with Mike Jones, runs the company as co-president. They replaced Owen Van Natta, who was jettisoned as CEO last month after less than 10 months on the job.

"There is a pulse of pop culture on MySpace," says Hirschhorn, a former MTV exec.

They have their work cut out for them. MySpace, a unit of News Corp., has stumbled through two CEO resignations in the past year, while Facebook and Twitter surged. Nonetheless, MySpace remains one of the Internet's most enduring brands. It is profitable, and it is expected to haul in more than $350 million in revenue this year - mostly from ads.

Hirschhorn acknowledges that every major brand goes through plateaus but says the strong ones overcome them. He and Jones concede that MySpace's online traffic had flattened last spring, user engagement was down, and its products lacked focus and vision. But with an ambitious rebranding now under way, they foresee a renewal in its fortunes.

MySpace is moving back to its original DNA: appealing to self-expressive, creative under-35-year-olds who are into games, music and movies. More than half of MySpace's estimated 100 million users are 25 and younger, according to market researcher comScore.

MySpace intends to appeal to that demographic with a mantra of "Discover and be discovered."

The rebranding is illustrated in design mockups splashed across the walls of a user-experience lab: Simple, clean pages with vibrant looks designed to draw artists, hard-core social-media users, brand managers and others. There is even talk of a new company logo.

MySpace has reinvented itself in several ways:

• New user home pages, released last month, are heavy on live personal content but without the clutter once associated with the original MySpace design.

• Forthcoming profiles for celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Angelina Jolie are easier to navigate and offer encyclopedic data on their subjects.

• Social-gaming firm Playdom is helping MySpace reinvigorate its gaming channel. This month, it launches Wild Ones, a shoot-'em-up already available on Facebook, on MySpace. More games, including ones exclusive to MySpace, are on the way.

• Through its constant tweets on Twitter, MySpace has developed into a heavy-duty entertainment-news service for music, celebrities and youth-oriented movies. Twitter and MySpace have also synched services, so updates on one service are automatically duplicated on the other.

MySpace is not only reinventing itself but recasting the competitive climate. "When we think about Twitter and Facebook, we don't think about competition as much as we think about partnership, distribution and synchronization," Hirschhorn said.

Yet can MySpace - once the undisputed king of social networking - remain relevant as a scaled-down Web protal for music and entertainment news? Industry analysts, including Debra Aho Williamson, aren't so sure. They say MySpace faces an obstacle course of competitors.

"For months we've heard about the company's plan to refocus on its historic roots in music and entertainment," said Williamson of market researcher eMarketer. "But the turnaround has been painfully slow, and this shakeup will only reinforce the perception that MySpace can't be fixed."

Facebook's dominance notwithstanding, MySpace and others can thrive in fragmented spaces, such as music and entertainment news, says Eric Mandl, head of large-cap tech banking at UBS.

MySpace remains a force in music. More than 13 million bands find it a vibrant tool to communicate with fans.

Social networking sites look to build profit

Social networking sites look to build profit




by Matt Moore Associated Press - Jan. 28, 2010 12:00 AM

DAVOS, Switzerland - The leaders of Facebook and other social-media sites have long seen some grim writing on their wall. While spectacular popularity has turned them into household names, they haven't found a way to transform all those friends, fans and followers into profits.

On Wednesday, in a rare encounter of rivals, the chiefs of Twitter

, MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn met with industry experts at the World Economic Forum to strategize.

The common theme: developing social networks so they get beyond socializing to drive humanitarian causes or help businesses better communicate with customers to increase sales.

While participants touted social media's ability to reach out, form relationships and keep people and businesses linked together, they offered scant insight into how the companies can make money, cashing in on their enormous fan base.

"What's important for them is to become indispensable to consumers," said Augie Ray, a senior analyst for social computing with Forrester Research Inc.

"For Facebook, one of the interesting things is the value of advertising that is super relevant and also increasingly involves the preferences and actions of your friends," he said.

Facebook, which draws revenue from advertising posted down the right side of its site, has generated buzz about a possible initial public offering this year. The site created a dual-class stock structure in November, a move that is typically a precursor to going public.

If it does go public, Twitter and LinkedIn may be tempted to follow, he said.

Evan Williams, chief executive and co-founder of Twitter, the wildly popular micro-blogging tool, said more and more small businesses were listening to their customers via the site, capitalizing on the way individuals build relationships across social-media platforms.

"This is the heart of what a lot of social networks are about, they're about communicating ... but they're also about relationships of all types," he said.

"Some of the stuff we're excited about with Twitter is an individual will follow a local business, a coffee shop, and get their special of the day."

Experts see huge business opportunities remaining in social-media sites. More and more, though, sites are migrating to a business-oriented landscape with posts from friends seeking work, restaurant recommendations or the best places to buy cars or computers.

That, in turn, means that "social media is becoming the operating system of a business," said Don Tapscott, chairman of nGenera Insight, an information technology think tank.