Remember "New Twitter"? Get ready for the "New New Twitter," as the 140-character driven social platform prepares to unveil a redesign. While the video touting the redesigned Twitter makes it sound like it's a great way to hook up with friends, the redesign is featured in a microsite that touts a consistent mobile experience, new user icons (Home, Connect, Discover, Me and Tweet) and a rearranging of the furniture.Continue reading...

Socialbakers, the most cited source for global Facebook data with over 5 million Facebook pages and places indexed, has just released a study highlighting social media effectiveness, coinciding with LeWeb’11, Europe’s premiere tech conference in Paris (taking place December 7-9).

Since its 2008 launch, Socialbakers has become the “most widely visited site for Facebook statistics and brand metrics,” and is now adding to its portfolio YouTube analytics and monitoring for Google+ brand page.

Findings showcase the companies with the largest social media presence across the major social networks. Topline observations include:

• Google on Facebook has a 2X higher engagement rate than Facebook itself.
• Facebook, Best Buy, Google, Nokia and Intel have the highest engagement rates in social and digital media.
• Foursquare made the top 15 but has an unexpected low user engagement against its competitors.
• Intel, Dell, Nokia, Foursquare, Facebook and Google are with engagement and adoption of Google+.

“From the findings, we see that companies need to think more about engagement and Google+. Little steps like posting once a day to Facebook will give optimal engagement. Companies need help understanding the data, what works and how they can improve,” said Jan Rezab, CEO of Socialbakers in a release.Continue reading...

Apple warms up to business markets, as Disney CEO Bob Iger joins board and Steve Jobs' position as chairman is filled.

Chrysler Ram named official truck of Detroit Red Wings.

Conde Nast debuts private ad exchange.

Crocs revamps retail store design.

Dell sales disappoint.

Dunkin' Donuts promotes single-serve holiday campaign on Facebook.

Foursquare adds features to enhance city guides.

H&M's next guest designer may be Tom Ford.Continue reading...

Best Buy faces investor skepticism of its big-box strategy amid stiffening online competition.

BP may avoid gross negligence conviction in Gulf Oil spill.

CBS drops What's Trending web TV series after Steve Jobs flub.

Cisco sets more conservative growth target.

ConocoPhillips tries to fuel more natural-gas use.

Dell sets $5-billion share buyback.

Dreamworks masters YouTube and Zynga marketing.

Facebook chases Google+ with "smart lists" feature.Continue reading...

Is it a tablet? Is it a phone? Perhaps both, maybe neither. And whatever it is, it comes equipped with a stylus.

When Samsung unveiled the latest member of its Galaxy family, the Note, at the IFA trade show in Berlin this week, the brand heralded a "new category of product, developed through Samsung's deep consumer understanding and insight." 

For the brand’s sake, hopefully Samsung’s understanding and insight includes the knowledge that a similar bigger-than-a-smartphone-smaller-than-a-tablet Android device with a 5-inch touchscreen, the Dell Streak 5, ended its yearlong streak of confusing and annoying consumers when it was discontinued a couple of weeks ago.

“But don’t compare the Note to that piece of impractical hardware,” Samsung might be saying. “Our device, which we’re calling neither a phone nor a tablet – and don’t call it a phablet – has…wait for it…a stylus.”

Samsung might be going out on a limb to promote the Note as part of a new category, but that brand message was part of the initial appeal of the iPad: a mashup of disparate devices you already owned to create the latest all-in-one device you suddenly can’t live without.Continue reading...

Amazon lines up author to fulfill goal of publishing its own books.

Baidu comes under fire in Chinese state-TV report.

BMW releases app that lets drivers share most interesting routes as brand finds its cars, along with those of Mercedes-Benz, torched in protests in Berlin.

Chili's fetes millionth Facebook fan.

Chrysler hires Ignite to put social-media gaffe behind car maker.

Clinique tests mobile strategy in Asia.

Dell lowers sales forecast.

Evergreen Solar files for bankruptcy after it can't compete with Chinese firms.Continue reading...

How leading industry brands are performing in social media customer service comes under the microscope in a new study released by market researcher Alterian — specifically, how effectively 12 brands are using social media to resolve customers' issues and the impact on their marketing efforts.

Microsoft was the top performer in the report — titled "Social Media Report Cards: Measuring Brand Engagement" — across all industries, achieving the highest overall score for social media customer service. 

Alterian's researchers examined brand leaders in six industries: travel, banking, cable, mobile, gaming and consumer electronics, and concluded that higher scores went to brands showing “a correlation between rapid customer service response times and positive consumer sentiment on social media.”Continue reading...

One of the first things marketers learn (or should learn) in business school is that it's far cheaper to keep a customer than gain a new customer — just ask AT&T, Verizon or any cable/satellite operator about their subscriber acquisition costs and retention marketing strategies for an earful on that topic.

That's why recent results of separate surveys have two of branding's rockstars pleased as pie. 

They're sleek. They're iconically brushed matte silver. And they both begin with the letter "A" — the grade they're getting from some very satisfied customers.Continue reading...