Bloomfield Hills, MI  (Profitable.com)  That’s Biz, a leading online restaurant marketing firm, introduced their Facebook Like Us Love Us application for restaurant fan pages just thirty days ago and has already hit 2000 monthly active users. Designed exclusively for restaurants, Like Us Love Us is the only solution that puts the information restaurant customers want to know on one tab.

“We use the Like Us Love Us application on several of our resort pages,” said Loren Gray Director of eCommerce for Ocean Properties. “We have looked at a lot of tools and Like Us Love Us is unique in its ability to limit offers and track customer usage. Their practical use of QR codes allows us to redeem promotions with simply a smartphone at our resort restaurants.”

The Facebook Like Us Love Us application is the result of That’s Biz developers creating Facebook applications for restaurants over the past three years and observing what works with the customer. In addition, this past summer That’s Biz completed a survey of thousands of restaurant customers and asked them why they visit and like a restaurant fan page.

“We also like how we can give our customers access to our website information right from Facebook,” Gray continues. “Everything on one tab makes it more convenient for our customers and gets them to visit our page more often.”

That’s Biz offers two versions of Like Us Love Us. Restaurant owners are in full control over the number, level, and redemption of promotions in both versions. They decide whether they need to promote more likes for their page and whether the offers should be restricted. The enhanced version of Like Us Love Us leverages a restaurants website and makes the information one click away from their Facebook page.

Dave Gonynor CEO of That’s Biz concludes, “We know customers check the Like us Love Us tab often because according to Facebook Insights data customers visit the Like Us Love Us tab as much as they do the wall.”

Restaurant owners can watch the attached short video and see how it works. They can also visit the That’s Biz Facebook page which has links to restaurant pages across the country that are using the application.

That’s Biz has a special Introductory Offer that runs through December of 2011. Check it out by clicking on Like Us Love Us for Facebook.

About That’s Biz:

That’s Biz provides email marketing, Facebook marketing and online survey services for thousands of restaurant locations across North America. For more information visit http://www.thatsbiz.com

Sunnyvale, CA  (Profitable.com)  Commtouch ® (Nasdaq: CTCH) has published the industry’s first ever research report on The State of Hacked Accounts, presenting statistics on the theft, abuse and eventual recovery of Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and Facebook accounts.

The data reveals that most users get hacked at high rates even when they do not think they are engaging in risky behavior, with 62% unaware of how their accounts had been compromised.

The results presented in the report rely on a comprehensive end-user survey together with data from Commtouch’s GlobalView™ Network, which tracks and analyzes billions of Internet transactions daily.

Other highlights from the research include:

• Less than one-third of users noticed their accounts had been compromised, with over 50% relying on friends to point out their stolen accounts.
• 15% of users thought their credentials were stolen after they used a public Internet terminal or WiFi network.
• One in eight hijacked accounts were used for a phony distress email scam that asks friends to wire funds to a foreign country, and over half of the accounts were used to send spam.

“Commtouch’s poll reveals that more than two-thirds of all compromised accounts are used to send spam and scams,” said Amir Lev, Commtouch’s chief technology officer. “This is not surprising, as cybercriminals can improve their email delivery rates by sending from trusted domains such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail, and enhance their open and click-through rates by sending from familiar senders.”

The report also provides tips for preventing accounts from being compromised.

The full report on stolen accounts, as well as a brief presentation and infographic, are available at:http://www.commtouch.com/state-of-hacked-accounts.

The State of Hacked Accounts Report is a companion to Commtouch’s quarterly Internet Threats Trend Report, which covers Web threats, phishing, malware, and spam.  The October trend report describes the explosion of email-borne malware in the third quarter of 2011 to the highest levels observed in over two years.  The ultimate purpose of the huge volumes of malware has remained unclear as spam levels continue to decrease.

Additional data from the trend report:

• Over 230 billion emails with attached malware were sent in the outbreaks of August and September.  The malware included variants of Sasfis, SpyEye, Zeus, fake antivirus, and others.
• Phony Facebook notifications lured users to malware, while large scale  scams accumulated hundreds of thousands of Facebook Likes
• Spam levels dropped to an average of 93 billion spam/phishing messages per day during Q3.
• The most popular spam topic in Q3 was pharmacy ads, increasing to 29% of all spam from 24% in Q2.
• India keeps its title as the country with the most zombies – 18% of all zombies worldwide.

More details, including samples and statistics, and a brief presentation summarizing the trend report are available at: http://www.commtouch.com/threat-report-Oct-2011.

About Commtouch

Commtouch® (NASDAQ: CTCH) safeguards the world’s leading security companies and service providers with cloud-based Internet security services. A cloud-security pioneer, Commtouch’s real-time threat intelligence from its GlobalView™ Network powers Web security, messaging security and antivirus solutions, protecting thousands of organizations and hundreds of millions of users worldwide.

Stay abreast of the latest news at the Commtouch Cafe:
http://blog.commtouch.com. For more information about enhancing security offerings with Commtouch technology, see http://www.commtouch.com or write to info@commtouch.com.

Recurrent Pattern Detection, RPD, Zero-Hour and GlobalView are trademarks, and Commtouch, Authentium, Command Antivirus and Command Anti-malware are registered trademarks, of Commtouch. U.S. Patent No. 6,330,590 is owned by Commtouch.

Commtouch Contact
Amy Kenigsberg
US: 1-913-440-4072
Int’l: +972-9-794-1681
amyk@commtouch.com

Lock Haven, Pennsylvania  (Profitable.com)  Results of a study released last week in Computers in Human Behavior by Dr. Reynol Junco of Lock Haven University, Pennsylvania, show a positive correlation between college grade point average and Facebook use when students use the social network for information collection and sharing.

Study participants included 1,839 college students, each of which were U.S. residents and admitted through the regular admissions process at a four-year, public, primary residential institution. Data collected and examined centered around the relationship between multiple measures of frequency of Facebook use, participation in site activities, time spent preparing for class and overall GPA. GPA data were gathered from the university registrar.

Results reveal that the social network’s use positively related to GPA when that student used his or her time on the site mimicking educational behaviors, such as sharing links or gathering information. The time a student spent on the social network only weakly correlated to the time he or she spent preparing for class.

As with excessive offline socializing, Facebook social activities, such as chatting and updating one’s status, were negatively related to either GPA or time spent preparing for class. The author observed a negative relationship between time spent on Facebook and GPA, with students who invested 279 added minutes on Facebook per day than average also earning an overall GPA .37 points below average. But the relationship between time spent on Facebook and grades could not be explained by students spending less time studying.

“While further study is necessary, these results do help educators understand which Facebook activities could prove problematic and which were beneficial, when to target interventions around comparable online and offline behaviors like excessive socializing, and the possibilities of using Facebook to enhance student learning and engagement,” Junco explained.

Educators have an opportunity to transform activities in a manner that fully leverages those individual features that promote positive academic outcomes, Junco concluded. For instance, because research indicates a positive correlation between communication and gains in academic performance, faculty members could foster online course-related discourse via self-administered Facebook groups.

Dr. Rey Junco’s full study, “Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance”, is available online at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563211001932. Media representatives may contact the author for interview requests.

About The Author

Dr. Rey Junco is a social media scholar whose primary research interest lies in using quantitative methods to analyze the effects of social media on student psychosocial development, engagement, and learning. Rey earned his doctorate in education in counselor education from Penn State University. Rey also earned his master’s degree in clinical psychology from Penn State where he studied and conducted research in neuropsychology. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from The University of Florida where he studied and conducted research in neuroscience. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Academic Development and Counseling and the Director of Disability Services at Lock Haven University.

PRIVATE WiFi, a new and innovative company in the security software market, in conjunction with the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), is proud to announce its latest contest, called “Hide Your Face on Facebook.” This contest will run the entire month of October, which is National Cyber Security Month.

This contest encourages Facebook users to go to the PRIVATE WiFi Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/privatewifi) and upload pictures that show themselves covering their faces in support of safe online identities. They encourage creativity! Users must make sure to tag PRIVATE WiFi so it shows up on the company’s wall.

Each week in October, they will select one of the winning photos at random which will be the featured picture on PRIVATE WiFi’s Facebook wall. Additionally, they will create a photo album featuring all of the photo entries they receive.

PRIVATE WiFi is also giving out great prizes. Every Friday in October, they will give out one free yearly subscription to Facebook users who upload photos to their wall’ that is four in total throughout the duration of the contest! And one lucky grand prize winner will receive an iPad 2!

“Each day, more and more people are realizing how important it is to protect their online identities,” PRIVATE WiFi CEO, Kent Lawson, writes, “Our software does this, and we are committed to educating as many people about protecting themselves from online security risks as we can through contests like this one.”

Private WiFi and the ITRC want to spread awareness on this important issue in a fun and engaging way. So they encourage everyone to show their support for keeping their online identities safe while getting a chance to win great prizes from PRIVATE WiFi!

About Public WiFi Online Identity Risks

Public WiFi usage has been increasing exponentially in recent years due to its convenience and accessibility. These days, you can access the Internet from just about anywhere: coffee shops, airports, public libraries, hotel rooms, and just about any other public place. However, most of us are not aware the online identity risks inherent in using a public WiFi network.

WiFi networks use radio waves to connect computers to one another. This means that when you connect to a public network, you are basically exposing all of your computer files, including personal data such as credit card information, passwords, and social security numbers, to anyone within that network. This has led to a new type of hacking called “sniffing.” Sniffers are computer tools that don’t require physical access to your computer. With the right software, easily available on the Internet, hackers can use sniffers to steal any unencrypted data on a public WiFi network. It could even be the guy sipping his coffee at the table right next to you.

The best way to protect your sensitive information is to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, which encrypts the data moving to and from your laptop. The encryption protects all your Internet communication from being intercepted by others in WiFi hotspots. In addition, VPNs can prevent hackers from connecting to your laptop and stealing your data files.

Most large companies have a company-support VPN to protect corporate communications. Private WiFi provides the same capability for individuals, business travelers, and small and medium-sized enterprises.

About ITRC

Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) is a nonprofit, nationally respected organization dedicated exclusively to the understanding of identity theft and related issues. The ITRC provides victim and consumer support as well as public education. The ITRC also advises governmental agencies, legislators, law enforcement, and businesses about the evolving and growing problem of identity theft.

About PRIVATE WiFi

Private Communications Corporation is a security technology company that protects personal data and information on the Internet. PRIVATE WiFi, the company’s flagship software offering, encrypts all computer data across unencrypted WiFi networks, enhancing online privacy for those without access to virtual private networks. Founded by software entrepreneur Kent Lawson, Private Communications Corporation is headquartered in Sherman, CT. For more information, visit us athttp://www.privatewifi.com and for articles and other online privacy resources, please visit www.private-i.com. You can also connect with us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/privatewifi.

Private WiFi protect your identity and sensitive information by becoming invisible on any public WiFi network. For further information, please contact us at 1-888-525-3078

Video, Audio or E-Book content owners can now turn their Facebook page into a direct sales channel with social interaction. Facebook friends or others browsing the page can preview, order and consume the content right inside of Facebook or by using the native apps available for virtually every connected device (PC, iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, BlackBerry).

Major Hollywood Studios such as Warner or Universal are already using their Facebook presence for direct sales. For the first time, smaller studios and independent content owners can now do the same with their content and combine social marketing power with a secure and powerful cloud-based distribution platform.

“We currently serve about 1500 content owners, and being able to use Facebook for revenue generation and not just customer communication was a frequent request,” says Michael Schmidt, VP Marketing of FlickRocket. “With the FlickRocket Webshop, content owners can directly harvest from their social marketing activities without losing conversions through a transfer out of Facebook.”

About FlickRocket

FlickRocket (http://www.flickrocket.com) is a division of ACE GMBH, located in Germany, which is a pioneer in secure cloud-based multi-platform content distribution solutions, used by major Hollywood Studios and VOD services. FlickRocket, with offices in the United States and Germany, operates direct-to-consumer webshop solutions for content owners worldwide.

Collecting performance data from both Facebook and the Social Ads Tool proprietary conversion tracking technology, Social Ads Tool is now able to provide accurate analysis reporting of hourly performance trends for your Facebook Ads.

As the conversion ratio for Facebook Ads can be dramatically different between different hours of the day, savvy internet marketers can dramatically increase their profits simply by selling the right products at the right time of day.

Social Ads Tool takes this approach one step further – by now allowing users to schedule their campaigns to run on a strictly defined day-part timescale.

This means that a campaign can be now defined to automatically run only during the peak hours on different days of the week.

Using these new features can result in an immediate increase in conversion ratios by 100%.

Social Ads Tool is a fully-featured Facebook Ads campaign management and optimization platform, and is ideal for clients spending upwards of €10,000 per month on Facebook Ads.

License fees vary from 3-5% based on volume.

A live demonstration of Social Ads Tool can be arranged by contacting:

Jacob Ozolins
77Agency
j.ozolins(at)77agency(dot)com
+371 26682196

http://www.socialadstool.com

iHOUSEweb, producers of the MLS Property Search Tool – IDXPro, have recently released a new Facebook App that lets REALTORS® add property search tools to their Facebook page.

With over 80% of Real Estate Agents using social media (reports Mashable.com) and a growing number of IDX Vendors entering the foray, one thing is for certain, Real Estate Agents have begun to embrace Facebook and are now beginning to realize it’s true marketing potential.

IDXPro has struck a chord with Agents in particular by bringing something new to the table that they haven’t seen before. REALTORS® now have access to a portable search tool that’s not just for Facebook, but can be copied and pasted anywhere an Agent wants to offer home buyers interactive property search tools.

Key components include Google Map Search, Lead Tracker, Visitor Registration, Property Slideshows, Mobile Search and a free plugin for WordPress. IDXPro can easily be copied and pasted anywhere on the web. Since it’s launch in May, the IDXPro MLS Search Widget has been downloaded and test drove over 10,000 times!

IDXPro is hosted by iHOUSEweb a Real Estate Technology firm which currently services over 30,000 REALTORS® and has access to 400 MLS feeds nationwide. IDXPro is completely free to try and users can take a fully functional test drive of the product right on their website or Facebook Page.

The social media market is primed for a new player that allows users to connect with friends, according to the 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Business Report, produced in partnership with customer experience analytics firm ForeSee Results. Despite a small improvement this year, Facebook (+3% to 66) is the lowest-scoring site, not only in the social media category, but of all measured companies in this report. The survey was conducted last month, before the widespread introduction of Facebook’s biggest competitor, Google+, but Facebook’s low score indicates that Google+ could easily pounce and gain market share if they can provide a superior customer experience.

“We don’t know yet how Google+ will fare, but what we do know is that Google is one of the highest-scoring companies in the ACSI and Facebook is one of the lowest,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. “An existing dominance of market share like Facebook has is no longer a safety net for a company that is not providing a superior customer experience.”

Facebook is just one story emerging from today’s report. The ACSI E-Business Report covers three categories of e-business: social media, portals and search engines, and online news. This is the twelfth annual report of its kind, allowing companies and analysts to track the performance of these organizations over time by a critical metric: customer satisfaction.

Social Media: Wikipedia (+1% to 78) takes the top spot, while YouTube (+1% to 74) comes in a distant second. MySpace drops from this year’s Index because there were not enough users to create a statistically significant sample. Overall, social media is one of the lowest-scoring industries measured by the ACSI—only airlines, newspapers, and subscription television services score lower.  

Search Engines and Portals: Google leads the search engine and portals category (up 4% to 83), but Bing follows closely, jumping an impressive 7% in one year to 82. Anything over 80 is generally considered an excellent score. Bing has grown in market share over the last year and makes up roughly 17% of the search engine market, up from 9% last year.

“While Google+ is the challenger to Facebook’s established dominance in the social media sphere, in the search engine wars, Google is king and Bing is hoping to be a contender,” added Freed. “Last year, Google’s customer satisfaction score was three points higher than Bing’s. This year, that gap narrows to one point. Bing is showing it can challenge Google in terms of revenue, market share, and the customer experience.”

News Websites: FoxNews.com (82) has a strong lead on the news and information category and is five points ahead of the next highest-scoring site, ABCNews.com (+3% to 77). HuffingtonPost.com (69) debuts at the bottom of the industry. Satisfaction with NYTimes.com drops 4% this year to 73. The study was conducted during the same time the site began to implement their metered paywall, but it remains to be seen whether satisfaction will rebound as customers adjust to the new business model.

“E-business is still relatively immature in many ways, often more interested in technology than in satisfying customers,” said Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI and author of The Satisfied Customer. “As competition gets tougher, this is likely to change, and the successful companies are going to have powerful cause-and-effect customer satisfaction measurement systems.  The losers will be the companies that underestimate the power of a dissatisfied customer and fail to upgrade their current measurement systems.”

For more analysis and complete historical scores, please visit www.theacsi.org or www.ForeSeeResults.com.

About the ACSI

The American Customer Satisfaction Index is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. Data from interviews with approximately 70,000 customers annually are used as inputs into an econometric model to measure satisfaction with more than 225 companies in 47 industries and 10 economic sectors, as well as more than 130 federal government departments, agencies, and websites. Results are released on a monthly basis with all measures reported using a 0-100 scale. ACSI data have proven to be strongly related to a number of essential indicators of micro and macroeconomic performance. For example, firms with higher levels of customer satisfaction tend to have higher earnings and stock returns relative to competitors. Stock portfolios based on companies that show strong performance in ACSI deliver excess returns in up-markets as well as down-markets. And, at the macro level, customer satisfaction has been shown to be predictive of both consumer spending and gross domestic product growth.

Founded at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, the Index is produced by ACSI LLC and supported in part by ForeSee Results, corporate sponsor for the e-commerce and e-business measurements.

About ForeSee Results

As the leader in customer satisfaction measurement, ForeSee Results captures and analyzes voice-of-customer data to help organizations increase loyalty, recommendations and marketing value. Using the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), ForeSee Results identifies improvements across all channels and touch points that drive customer satisfaction. With over 60 million survey responses collected to date and benchmarks across dozens of industries, ForeSee Results offers unparalleled expertise in customer satisfaction measurement and management for clients around the world.

ForeSee Results, a privately held company, is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan and on the web at www.ForeSeeResults.com. Connect with ForeSee Results at (www.ForeSeeResults.com/connect.html).

According to a 2011 National Online Consumer Behavior study released today by CityGrid Media and conducted by Harris Interactive®,  the Facebook “Like” button, launched last year, has already trumped the review as the way consumers prefer to show their support online for local businesses. The findings also indicate that consumers are doing their homework when it comes to making decisions about which local businesses to frequent, but no one factor or source overwhelmingly influences the final choice–including those highly-touted deals and discounts.

CityGrid Media commissioned Harris Interactive to field this study, which was conducted by telephone between March 16—20, 2011 among a nationwide cross section of 1,006 adults.

“Surprisingly enough, Likes are trumping reviews when it comes to sharing feedback, but this does not translate to Facebook being the first or only place consumers turn when deciding to try someplace new,” said Kara Nortman, SVP, Publishing at CityGrid Media. “What this means for small businesses on the Web is that they should encourage Likes, but also round out marketing efforts to reach consumers across a variety of touchpoints. The truth is, there’s no one silver bullet to influence people that are choosing local businesses on or offline.”

Detailed findings include:

Likes Trump Reviews; but Face to Face Wins Over All

As Sally Fields famously gushed during her 1984 Oscar win, who doesn’t want to be liked? With the popularity of the Facebook Like button, businesses don’t need the Oscar stage to broadcast their popularity to the world. Even still, a whisper in the ear trumps a click when people want to show their support for local businesses. So, what are the leading ways that users show support?

• Three-quarters of people (75%) tell their friends
• 20% of people say they “Like” it on Facebook to show their support, compared with only 13% who write a review
  • Millennials are even more likely to favor Facebook over reviews, as are women:
    • 40% of people under 35 “Like” a business; that went to 49% in the 18-24 group, versus 18% who said they would write a review
    • 25% of women hit the “Like” button, versus 11% who write reviews 

People do Their Homework, but The Deal’s Just Extra Credit

While Facebook may be one of the first places people go to give feedback on a business, it’s certainly not the only stop. Surprisingly, despite a sluggish economy and the frenzied attention as of late, discounts and offers are not a major factor in how consumers choose a merchant.  

• More than half (52%) of adults under 35 visit more than two websites before checking out a local business
  • 63% of respondents under 35 head to Google
  • 24% visit Facebook; 21% look at reviews sites and 17% copped to clicking on the first link on the search results page (whatever that link may be…)
• Less than one in ten people (8%) said a deal is the number one thing that influences them to try a local business  

People Care About the Face Behind the Name

When doing their homework, those under 35 report that the business owner’s feedback may carry equal weight to input from friends or social networks. So, when doing online marketing—be it Facebooking, tweeting or responding to reviews—be sure your spirit is represented along with your specials.

• Almost half (47%) of people under age 35 are more influenced to try a business from the owner of the establishment than a friend  

Feeling the Pain at the Pump

While the majority of adults go to a local business or out to eat at least once a week (73%), rising gas prices and distance are also impacting consumers’ decisions about which hot spots to hit

• 67% of people overall said they agree that gas prices factor into their decision around which businesses to visit
• Women may not only be the fairer sex, they may also be the frugal sex:
  • 87% of women ages 18-34 said gas prices and distance influence their decision, as compared with 67% of men in the same age range

“The economic conditions of the past few years have led to people being increasingly conscious of how and where they spend their money,” continued Nortman. “This means it’s all the more critical that business owners are casting a wide net and putting their dollars as many places as possible since it’s clear there’s no one magic tactic to attract new customers and keep your patrons happy.”

Methodology

This survey was conducted by Harris Interactive by telephone within the United States on behalf of CityGrid Media between March 16-20, 2011 among a nationwide cross section of 1,006 adults. For a full methodology, please contact Jenny Davis.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what’s next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

About CityGrid Media

CityGrid Media is a leading media company that connects web and mobile publishers with local advertising organizations by linking them through CityGrid®, its local content and advertising network.  CityGrid Media also owns and operates premier local consumer properties including Citysearch, Insider Pages and Urbanspoon. CityGrid Media is an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI).  For more information, visit www.citygridmedia.com.

Social Media – it IS all the rage! So, to find out what effect the social media explosion is having in the workplace and how companies are responding to its use, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and its affiliated Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) fielded a survey among compliance and ethics professionals. This is the second survey SCCE and HCCA conducted on business’ response to social media – the first survey was conducted in 2009 – and the research was designed to track how business has responded to the explosion of social media usage.

Survey respondents reported that discipline of employees for their activities on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is on the rise. According to the survey results 42% of respondents reported that their organization has had to discipline an employee for behavior on these sites. That is up significantly from 24% reported in 2009.

Policies for Social Media Use Away from Work

Yet, while headlines tell of employee firings for Facebook or Twitter rants or privacy violations, only about one-third of survey respondents report that their organizations have adopted policies specifically addressing the use of social media sites outside of work.  The data reveals an increase from 10% in 2009 to 31% in 2011 of respondent who report that their employer has specific policies for social media use when away from work.

Social Media at Work

Companies often set site-specific policies for workplace access to social media. Forty-seven percent reported that “anyone” may access LinkedIn, while lower numbers are reported for Facebook and Twitter – 32% and 31% respectively – and 35% of respondents companies allow no access to those two sites at work. It is interesting to note here that “for profit” companies are more likely than “non-profits” to allow access to LinkedIn. Health care companies (40%) were far less likely to allow access than industry as a whole (77%).

Monitoring Social Media Use

In 2009, passive systems for monitoring social media policies – acting when appraised of an issue – was used by 32% of respondents and yet, despite the exponential growth of Social Media use, the availability of monitoring solutions, and the increase in company policies that restrict its use, passive system are now relied upon by 48% of respondents.

“Business has clearly awoken to the risks and opportunities posed by social media. The increase in business usage of social media sites has been accompanied by increased efforts, at least on paper, to control employee activity inside and outside of work,” said Roy Snell, Chief Executive Officer, SCCE and HCCA. “However, reliance on informal monitoring methods and lack of clear owners of monitoring suggest that many companies have a long way to go in ensuring that their policies are followed,” said Snell. “At the same time we must be very careful not to stifle one of the most effective business tool we have, social media.”

For the complete survey results, click here:

HCCA: http://www.hcca-info.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Surveys&Template=/surveyform.cfm&survey=2011SocialMedia

SCCE: http://www.corporatecompliance.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Surveys&Template=/surveyform.cfm&survey=2011SocialMedia

About the HCCA

The Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA), established in 1996 and headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, is a non-profit professional membership organization made up of compliance and ethics professionals working in the health care industry. HCCA is dedicated to improving the quality of compliance. Visit HCCA’s Web site at www.hcca-info.org. Tel: 888/580-8373.    

About the SCCE

The Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE) is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. Its mission: SCCE exists to champion ethical practice and compliance standards in all organizations and to provide the necessary resources for compliance professionals and others who share these principles. Visit the SCCE Web site at http://www.corporatecompliance.org, Tel: 888-277-4977. Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics is located at 6500 Barrie Road, Suite 250, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55435. E-mail: helpteam@corporatecompliance.org.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.  (Profitable.com)  McAfee, Inc. (NYSE:MFE) today unveiled its 2011 Threat Predictions report, outlining the top threats that researchers at McAfee Labs foresee for the coming year. The list comprises 2010’s most buzzed about platforms and services, including Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone, foursquare, Google TV and the Mac OS X platform, which are all expected to become major targets for cybercriminals. McAfee Labs also predicts that politically motivated attacks will be on the rise, as more groups are expected to repeat the WikiLeaks paradigm.

“We’ve seen significant advancements in device and social network adoption, placing a bulls-eye on the platforms and services users are embracing the most,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs. “These platforms and services have become very popular in a short amount of time, and we’re already seeing a significant increase in vulnerabilities, attacks and data loss.”

McAfee Labs Threat Predictions for 2011:

Exploiting Social Media: URL-shortening services
Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook have created the movement toward an “instant” form of communication, a shift that will completely alter the threat landscape in 2011. Of the social media sites that will be most riddled with cybercriminal activity, McAfee Labs expects those with URL-shortening services will be at the forefront. The use of abbreviated URLs on sites like Twitter makes it easy for cybercriminals to mask and direct users to malicious websites. With more than 3,000 shortened URLs per minute being generated, McAfee Labs expects to see a growing number used for spam, scamming and other malicious purposes.

Exploiting Social Media: Geolocation services
Locative services such as foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places can easily search, track and plot the whereabouts of friends and strangers. In just a few clicks, cybercriminals can see in real time who is tweeting, where they are located, what they are saying, what their interests are, and what operating systems and applications they are using. This wealth of personal information on individuals enables cybercriminals to craft a targeted attack. McAfee Labs predicts that cybercriminals will increasingly use these tactics across the most popular social networking sites in 2011.

Mobile: Usage is rising in the workplace, and so will attacks
Threats on mobile devices have so far been few and far between, as “jailbreaking” on the iPhone and the arrival of Zeus were the primary mobile threats in 2010. With the widespread adoption of mobile devices in business environments, combined with historically fragile cellular infrastructure and slow strides toward encryption, McAfee Labs predicts that 2011 will bring a rapid escalation of attacks and threats to mobile devices, putting user and corporate data at very high risk.

Apple: No longer flying under the radar
Historically, the Mac OS platform has remained relatively unscathed by malicious attackers, but McAfee Labs warns that Mac-targeted malware will continue to increase in sophistication in 2011. The popularity of iPads and iPhones in business environments, combined with the lack of user understanding of proper security for these devices, will increase the risk for data and identity exposure, and will make Apple botnets and Trojans a common occurrence.

Applications: Privacy leaks—from your TV
New Internet TV platforms were some of the most highly-anticipated devices in 2010. Due to the growing popularity among users and “rush to market” thinking by developers, McAfee Labs expects an increasing number of suspicious and malicious apps for the most widely deployed media platforms, such as Google TV. These apps will target or expose privacy and identity data, and will allow cybercriminals to manipulate a variety of physical devices through compromised or controlled apps, eventually raising the effectiveness of botnets.

Sophistication Mimics Legitimacy: Your next computer virus could be from a friend
Malicious content disguised as personal or legitimate emails and files to trick unsuspecting victims will increase in sophistication in 2011. “Signed” malware that imitates legitimate files will become more prevalent, and “friendly fire,” in which threats appear to come from your friends but in fact are viruses such as Koobface or VBMania, will continue to grow as an attack of choice by cybercriminals. McAfee Labs expects these attacks will go hand in hand with the increased abuse of social networks, which will eventually overtake email as a leading attack vector.

Botnets: The new face of Mergers & Acquisitions
Botnets continue to use a seemingly infinite supply of stolen computing power and bandwidth around the globe. Following a number of successful botnet takedowns, including Mariposa, Bredolab and specific Zeus botnets, botnet controllers must adjust to the increasing pressure cybersecurity professionals are placing on them. McAfee Labs predicts that the recent merger of Zeus with SpyEye will produce more sophisticated bots due to improvements in bypassing security mechanisms and law enforcement monitoring. Additionally, McAfee Labs expects to see a significant botnet activity in the adoption of data-gathering and data-removal functionality, rather than the common use of sending spam.

Hacktivism: Following the WikiLeaks path
Next year marks a time in which politically motivated attacks will proliferate and new sophisticated attacks will appear. More groups will repeat the WikiLeaks example, as hacktivism is conducted by people claiming to be independent of any particular government or movement, and will become more organized and strategic by incorporating social networks in the process. McAfee Labs believes hacktivism will become the new way to demonstrate political positions in 2011 and beyond.

Advanced Persistent Threats: A whole new category
Operation Aurora gave birth to the new category of advanced persistent threat (APT)— a targeted cyberespionage or cybersabotage attack that is carried out under the sponsorship or direction of a nation-state for something other than pure financial/criminal gain or political protest. McAfee Labs warns that companies of all sizes that have any involvement in national security or major global economic activities should expect to come under pervasive and continuous APT attacks that go after email archives, document stores, intellectual property repositories and other databases.

For a full copy of the 2011 Threat Predictions report from McAfee Labs, please visit: http://www.mcafee.com

About McAfee

McAfee, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is the world’s largest dedicated security technology company. McAfee delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that help secure systems, networks, and mobile devices around the world, allowing users to safely connect to the Internet, browse and shop the Web more securely. Backed by its unrivaled Global Threat Intelligence, McAfee creates innovative products that empower home users, businesses, the public sector and service providers by enabling them to prove compliance with regulations, protect data, prevent disruptions, identify vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor and improve their security. McAfee secures your digital world. http://www.mcafee.com

NOTE: McAfee is a registered trademark or trademark of McAfee, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other marks may be claimed as the property of others. The product plans, specifications, and descriptions herein are provided for information only and are subject to change without notice. They are provided without warranty of any kind, expressed or implied.

Daily Steals is tapping into Mark Zuckerberg’s 550-million-user empire by promoting its daily deals online to an enthusiastic audience of rabid Facebook deal hunters. Available at http://www.DailySteals.com, the site offers major savings of over 80 percent off on electronics, luxury items, household goods, toys and mobile products.

Recognizing Facebook’s growing influence on society and business, Time Magazine recently named Zuckerberg the 2010 Person of the Year. Zuckerberg’s seven-year-old site is growing faster than ever, making it an important asset for companies like Daily Steals. Representing 1 out of every 4 page views in America, Facebook gains an estimated 700,000 members every day.

Daily Steals is harnessing the social network with a thriving user-base of its own on the Daily Steals fan page, located at http://www.facebook.com/DailySteals. Liked by over 9,000 users, the page is home to daily caption contests featuring everything from nuns in nylons to bike-riding sumo wrestlers. Caption contest winners are chosen by vote out of hundreds of submissions and receive an ever-changing mystery prize. The 1 deal a day site also imports a feed of the Daily Steals blog, http://www.DailyStealsBlog.com.  

“Facebook is a crucial component to online retail, and the deal-a-day industry is no exception. We don’t just promote our daily deals online, we engage our audience through daily caption contests and other fun giveaways. We’re fostering an interactive and entertaining community so users want to check DailySteals.com and our Facebook page every day,” said Matt Wiener, CEO of Daily Steals.

Daily Steals isn’t the only online store looking to incorporate Facebook into its business strategy. This holiday season, shopping sites Amazon.com and Etsy have been using Facebook “like” data to send out personalized gift recommendations to users. Over half of the top 25 online retailers have enabled Facebook integration; eBay, for example, created a feature called “Group Gifts” that allows Facebook friends to share the costs of purchases.

In addition to its Facebook presence, Daily Steals conducts a weekly raffle for its email subscribers with high-end prizes including iPods and televisions. The daily deals site also posts hilarious videos at http://www.youtube.com/DailySteals to promote bargains and announce raffle winners. Daily Steals jazzes up its featured deals with quirky descriptions, song lyrics, funny anecdotes and more.

“Deal-hunting isn’t a pastime, it’s a lifestyle. The deal-a-day market has blown up in recent years as more and more shoppers have started choosing daily deals sites over retailers. And with the increased level of competition, the deals have only gotten sweeter. Daily Steals has managed to stand out for our interactive contests and in-your-face personality – not to mention our phenomenal savings,” Wiener said.

Like Facebook itself, Daily Steals has rapidly expanded to accommodate its burgeoning fan-base. The site offers a flagship deal at its home page, in addition to 1 deal a day at each of four category sites: http://mobile.dailysteals.com, http://home.dailysteals.com, http://luxury.dailysteals.com, and http://toys.dailysteals.com.

In the most anticipated issue of the year, on sale Friday and available now on TIME.com, TIME names Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg the 2010 TIME Person of the Year. TIME’s Person of the Year issue features the most comprehensive portrait of Zuckerberg to date, written by TIME’s Lev Grossman with a series of exclusive interviews, photographs and video.

www.TIME.com/poy

EDITOR RICK STENGEL ON TIME’S PERSON OF THE YEAR

“For connecting more than half-a-billion people and mapping the social relations among them (something that has never been done before); for creating a new system of exchanging information that has become both indispensable and sometimes a little scary; and finally, for changing how we all live our lives in ways that are innovative and even optimistic, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is TIME’s 2010 Person of the Year.”

Stengel adds, “The social-networking platform he invented is closing in on 600 million users. In a single day, about a billion new pieces of content are posted on Facebook. It is the connective tissue for nearly a tenth of the planet. Facebook is now the third largest country on earth and surely has more information about its citizens than any government does. Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout, is its T-shirt-wearing head of state.”

http://bit.ly/fcn4cj

EXCLUSIVE: IN A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS, ZUCKERBERG TELLS TIME:

On the film The Social Network: “I found it funny what details they focused on getting right. I think I owned every single T-shirt that they had me wearing. But the biggest thing that thematically they missed is the concept that you would have to want to do something—date someone or get into some ­final club—in order to be motivated to do something like this. It just like completely misses the actual motivation for what we’re doing, which is, we think it’s an awesome thing to do.”

On what’s next for Facebook: “I think the next five years are going to be about building out this social platform,” Zuckerberg tells TIME, “It’s about the idea that most applications are going to become social, and most industries are going to be rethought in a way where social design and doing things with your friends is at the core of how these things work. If the last five years was the ramping up, I think that the next five years are going to be characterized by widespread acknowledgment by other industries that this is the way that stuff should be and will be better.”

On Wikileaks: “Well, at a very high level some of the themes could be connected. I mean we mostly make so you can understand what’s going on with the people around you because we think that that helps you connect with them more broadly. I mean the wikileaks story is fascinating, but I also just don’t think we’re anywhere near the end of it. And I personally feel like, from the coverage that I’ve read, that I don’t understand enough to fully comment on it, so I won’t. But I do think it’s a fascinating kind of turn of events, and watching how the different institutions react to it is also fascinating….We definitely don’t wake up in the morning and think about toppling institutions. But one of the things that I think happens from people being able to share their opinions with their friends or more broadly. You know I really do think there is this concept where the best stuff spreads.”

On the power of Facebook: “We have this concept of serendipity—humans do. A lucky coincidence. It’s like you go to a restaurant and you bump into a friend that you haven’t seen for a while. That’s awesome. That’s serendipitous. And a lot of the reason why that seems so magical is because it doesn’t happen often. But I think the reality is that those circumstances aren’t actually rare. It’s just that we probably miss like 99% of it.”

On the criticism that Facebook encourages lower-quality friendships: “That’s been a criticism that people have had for a while,” he says. “But this isn’t zero-sum. I think what we’re doing is enabling you to stay in touch with people who you otherwise wouldn’t. When I’m at home and I want to talk to my girlfriend, I don’t IM her. I walk downstairs, and we talk.”

On government requests for information: “We feel like it’s our responsibility to push back on that stuff,” Zuckerberg says, “so oftentimes someone will come with a subpoena, and we’ll go to court and say, ‘We don’t think this is enough.’ Ultimately I think this stuff gets used for good.”

Profile: http://bit.ly/e4bTFA

Video Q&A: http://bit.ly/gF95Db

TIME’S LEV GROSSMAN OFFERS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE PROFILE OF ZUCKERBERG TO DATE

“The reality is that Zuckerberg isn’t alienated, and he isn’t a loner. He’s the opposite. He’s spent his whole life in tight, supportive, intensely connected social environments: first in the bosom of the Zuckerberg family, then in the dorms at Harvard and now at Facebook, where his best friends are his staff, there are no offices and work is awesome. Zuckerberg loves being around people. He didn’t build Facebook so he could have a social life like the rest of us. He built it because he wanted the rest of us to have his.”

Grossman also writes, “What generally gets left out [is that] Zuckerberg is a warm presence, not a cold one. He has a quick smile and doesn’t shy away from eye contact. He thinks fast and talks fast, but he wants you to keep up. He exudes not anger or social anxiety but a weird calm. When you talk to his co-workers, they’re so adamant in their avowals of affection for him and in their insistence that you not misconstrue his oddness that you get the impression it’s not just because they want to keep their jobs. People really like him.”

http://bit.ly/e4bTFA

PLUS: EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS INSIDE FACEBOOK HQ, FAMILY PHOTOS, CANDIDS: http://bit.ly/i6UQjJ

60 SECONDS OF FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/dPaT4o

• 1.7 million interactions a minute
• 100,000 friend requests approved per minute
• 135,000 photos uploaded every minute
• 500,000 comments a minute

FACEBOOK COO SHERYL SANDBERG TELLS TIME ABOUT A FUTURE WHERE THE WEB IS BUILT AROUND PEOPLE:

“It’s a shift from the wisdom of crowds to the wisdom of friends,” say Sandberg. “It doesn’t matter if 100,00 people like x. If the three people closest to you like y, you want to see y.”

PLUS: TIME NAMES PERSON OF THE YEAR RUNNERS-UP: #2 The Tea Party; #3 Julian Assange; #4 Hamid Karzai and #5 The Chilean Miners

http://bit.ly/hYi4Lq

FIRST IN TIME: ALL 33 CHILEAN MINERS POSE FOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHS: http://bit.ly/esHuEE

AND A SPECIAL TEA PARTY PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION: http://bit.ly/hLTeWy

TIME NAMES 15 WHO HAD THEIR 15 MINUTES OF FAME IN 2010: http://bit.ly/e9FCNj

#1 Steven Slater, #2 Anna Chapman, #3 The Old Spice Guy, #4 Jim Joyce, #5 Paul “Double Rainbow” Vasquez

The December 27, 2010 Person of the Year issue of TIME goes on sale on Friday, December 17.

WOONSOCKET, R.I.  (Profitable.com)  CVS/pharmacy, the nation’s leading retail pharmacy, today announced the launch of their new CVS Express Photo App. With this easy-to-use application, Facebook users can order prints from their Facebook albums without leaving the website, with prints ready for pick up in about an hour at their local CVS/pharmacy.  

Customers can find the application by heading to the CVS/pharmacy Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cvs. To get started, click the “Photo App” tab at the top of the page. Once customers provide permission to allow the application to access their account to retrieve photos, prints can be ordered in four easy steps: choose photos, review cart, select store and then submit to print. Three print sizes are currently available through the application; customers can order 4×6, 5×7 and 8×10 prints.

“Facebook has become a popular and easy way to share photos online with family and friends,” said Grant Pill, Vice President of Merchandising for CVS/pharmacy.  ”We introduced the CVS Express Photo App to give people the ability to print photos and share them offline with the same ease by picking them up at any CVS/pharmacy location in as little as an hour.”

The new CVS Express Photo App, which was developed by Marketing Drive, simplifies the process of printing photos from your Facebook albums.  The application has been designed to alert users when an image is not high-resolution enough for clear print quality, typically when printed at larger sizes. To ensure high-quality prints, CVS/pharmacy recommends using Facebook’s high-res uploader or reducing the print size. For more information on the application, go to www.facebook.com/cvs. For more information about Marketing Drive, please visit www.marketingdrive.com.  For information on other creative photo products from CVS/pharmacy, please visit www.CVSphoto.com.

About CVS/pharmacy

CVS/pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS), is America’s leading retail pharmacy with more than 7,100 CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drug stores. CVS/pharmacy is committed to improving the lives of those we serve by making innovative and high-quality health and pharmacy services safe, affordable and easy to access, both in its stores and online at CVS.com. General information about CVS/pharmacy and CVS Caremark is available at info.cvscaremark.com.

The busiest shopping day of the year is rapidly approaching and, if you’re like most shoppers, you’ve already started your plan of attack. There are so many door busters this year that it will be difficult to get to all of them before they’re sold out.

Amazon.com has found a way to take away some of the stress this year. They are starting their Black Friday sales on November 22^nd and continuing for a week until the 29^th.  They will be announcing new deals every day during the week.

If you’re looking for DVD’s this year, Amazon is the place for you to shop. They leaked that their DVD’s will be as low as $1.99. If you’re more interested in Blu-ray’s than regular DVD’s they have you covered with prices as low as $5. The lightning deals will go quickly so you may want to sign up with them on Facebook to keep up with the deals.

• Amazon Black Friday Deals Week

If you’re into tweeting, you can even get tweets from Amazon as they will be tweeting the deals as they go live. They’ve announced a change to the Lightning Deals that you should know before starting the mad dash. The deals will now expire after being in your cart for only 15 minutes. Since there is a limited supply this should keep people from parking them in their carts.

Amazon will be offering deals in many of their departments, so even if you aren’t interested in DVD’s it’s still worth taking a look at their other deals as they are announced. This early start may even help you save not only time but also money. There may even be better deals than the stores you were thinking about going to.

New this year: Save 25% or more on popular kids’ gift items in the 2010 Holiday Toy List

Electronics

SUNNYVALE, Calif.  (Profitable.com)  In its latest edition of the Application Usage and Risk Report, Palo Alto Networks™, the network security company, draws attention to several realities that typically fall outside of the approved enterprise communications mechanisms.  These applications can enhance business responsiveness and performance – but, conversely – introduce inbound risks such as malware and vulnerability exploits, and outbound risks such as data loss and inadvertent sharing of private or proprietary data. The report advocates for assigning an action to these saying, socializing and sharing applications, and fostering discussions and creating viable policies around acceptable use.

Now in its 6th edition, the Application Usage and Risk Report (October 2010) consists of real-world traffic from 723 organizations worldwide, and examines user and application trends in the enterprise. In its analysis, Palo Alto Networks identified several patterns related to users’ applications to collaborate with others. These applications were pervasive among these participating organizations, and can be summarized as “saying, sharing and socializing applications.” In fact, the applications present are in up to 96% of the participating organizations and consume nearly one-quarter of the overall bandwidth.

Saying: unmonitored, unchecked, and very risky

Saying applications, including webmail and instant messaging applications, are still being used in a largely unmonitored and uncontrolled manner, which introduces significant inbound and outbound risks. Palo Alto Networks found that all of these saying applications either hop ports or use fixed ports that are not TCP/80 or TCP/443, which means that these applications cannot be easily monitored to control the related business and security risks. Furthermore, 60% of the saying applications discovered are capable of transferring files, thus opening organizations up to data leakage and the delivery of malware via attachments.

Sharing: users have found a better way to move and broadcast data

Since 2008, browser-based file-sharing applications have steadily grown in popularity to the point where they are now used more frequently than P2P or FTP. Now seen in 96% of organizations, these applications simplify file sharing but can also be broadcast-oriented (similar to P2P) in their distribution model. Using RapidShare, MegaUpload, or MediaFire, users can now upload their content and allow it to be indexed by one of the many affiliated search engines.

Socializing: when at work, Facebookers are voyeurs

Traffic patterns of Facebook may contradict certain assumptions about its use in the workplace. The bulk of the traffic (88%) is users watching Facebook pages. The risks that voyeurism represent include a potential loss of productivity and the possibility of malware introduction by clicking on a link within someone’s “wall.” Comparatively speaking, usage of Facebook apps (including popular games such as FarmVille) only represents 5% of Facebook traffic. Facebook posting represents an even smaller 1.4% of the traffic, yet the small amount of use should not minimize the risks in terms of what users are saying about work-related subjects such as current projects, travel plans and company status.

“IT teams are looking for ways to retain control within their organization at a time when non-IT-supported projects are pervasive,” said Rene Bonvanie, vice president of worldwide marketing at Palo Alto Networks. “In fact, we’re starting to see more trending of IT teams themselves embracing more progressive enterprise applications, which is indicative of these disruptive forces at work.”

Cloud-based computing: adoption driven by users and IT?

Results indicate that IT organizations may be moving beyond debating the pros and cons of enterprise-class, cloud-based applications to actual deployment. The traffic usage patterns for select Microsoft and Google applications indicate both top-down and bottom-up adoption, especially in the last months. For example, enterprise versions of Google Docs and Gmail were found in 30% of the 723 participating organizations. In other words, the high use of “free” versions of the Google applications by the end-user may be forcing IT to consider these tools as licensed and fully supported alternatives–or replacements–for existing tools. As more tech-savvy users enter the workforce, their work patterns and requests for more application alternatives will likely accelerate the adoption of a wider range of enterprise-class applications.

Application and Threat Information

Information on the more than 1,100 applications that are identified by Palo Alto Networks can be found in Applipedia, part of the company’s Application and Threat Research Center. Visit the online resource to find the latest news, commentary, and discoveries on applications and threats at http://www.paloaltonetworks.com/researchcenter/.

To download the Application Usage and Risk Report (October 2010), please visit: http://www.paloaltonetworks.com/literature/forms/aur-report.php

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks™ is the network security company.  Its next-generation firewalls enable unprecedented visibility and granular policy control of applications and content – by user, not just IP address – at up to 10Gbps with no performance degradation. Based on patent-pending App-ID™ technology, Palo Alto Networks firewalls accurately identify and control applications – regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or SSL encryption – and scan content to stop threats and prevent data leakage. Enterprises can for the first time embrace Web 2.0 and maintain complete visibility and control, while significantly reducing total cost of ownership through device consolidation. For more information, visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.

Palo Alto Networks, “The Network Security Company,” the Palo Alto Networks Logo and App-ID are trademarks of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in the United States. All other trademarks, trade names or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

ROCHELLE PARK, N.J.  (Profitable.com)  Strativity Group announces today the release of the 2010 Social Experience Study.  The study was designed to discover trends in social media as perceived by consumers and the role of social media in the overall ecosystem of consumer communication and service.

“The key message we heard from consumers was that social media is first and foremost considered private space. Akin to being a guest in someone’s house, companies need to adapt their behaviors and approach to social media by demonstrating respect to consumers. Additionally, the majority of consumers do not see social media as replacing existing channels. This is merely a complementary channel,” said Lior Arussy, Strativity President.

Key Findings:

Current Usage of Social Media

• 73% of consumers described their experience in social media as personal, utilizing sites such as Facebook and MySpace  
• 70% of consumers stated lack of time as an obstacle to further social media engagement
• 59% of consumers stated privacy as an obstacle to further social media engagement
• 58% of consumers stated too much junk and advertising as an obstacle to further social media engagement
• Banks, employers, grocery stores and cell phone companies were the companies participants most engaged with through social media
• The majority of consumers rejected the notion of using social media for traditional interactions with companies such as marketing, sales, or customer service

The Future of Social Media

• Sales, discounts and fun activities ranked highest in customers’ preference for social media engagement with companies

Study Overview

• Participants: 930 consumers from North America
• Study was a web-based questionnaire following the customer strategy phases.
• The survey was conducted from May 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009.
• The study was conducted in partnership with Customer Service Experts, Inc., a leading customer experience firm.

To receive a complimentary copy of the study, please click here and provide the requested information.

The study results will be discussed in the upcoming CEM Certification events in Scottsdale, AZ, October 4-6, 2010 and London November 15-16, 2010 www.CEMCertification.com

Strativity Group

At Strativity Group, Inc. we do more than customer experience research and strategic planning. We take a strong, multi-disciplinary approach to customer experience strategy design and implementation. Through proprietary research tools, strategic analysis, business planning and customer experience innovation design, we help our clients operationalize profitable customer experience strategies. We measure our success by a single method: execution.

Strativity Group, Inc. works with both Global 2000 companies as well as emerging businesses around the world. Our clients include Nokia, Computer Associates, SAP, American Management Association, Seagate Technology, Honeywell, Siemens, Dimension Data, FedEx, CATIC, Circle K, University of Pennsylvania, The Fund, Capital One, Jacada, Wyeth, Sage, Herbalife, Akibia, National, Lockheed Martin, Crown Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Nordea.

About Customer Service Experts

Customer Service Experts, Inc. (CSE) was created with a vision to improve the customer experience by focusing on the internal team and their direct link to customer satisfaction. CSE’s approach helps clients improve service from “the inside out” with a primary focus on executive leadership providing the proper support and tools for the frontline employees and managers to succeed. CSE’s strategies have benefited clients with both B2C and B2B engagements in a variety of industries including: retail, airport, hospitality, healthcare, education, government, financial, service and food and beverage.

NEW YORK  (Profitable.com)  With US companies estimated to spend over $1.3 billion in social media in 2010, one 25-year-old social media entrepreneur is taking advantage of the fact that online businesses are willing to invest large sums of cash to buy “friends” and fans on Facebook.

Leon Hill, founder of social media marketing company uSocial.net (http://usocial.net) has been selling targeted Facebook fans to celebrities, governments, small businesses and Fortune 500 companies since late 2009. And according to the young entrepreneur, the ability to buy potential customers on the site was something that people were certainly looking for.

“We simply couldn’t have estimated the response to this service if we’d tried,” said Hill when asked about the launch of the new Facebook marketing service. “It was simply overwhelming.”

The service provided by uSocial allows anyone to buy packages of fans — or “likes” — on Facebook targeted to the specific interests or geographic location a client requires. The company then delivers these fans to a specific Facebook profile by advertising it on the site, and through a myriad of other profiles.

“When put simply, all we do is to advertise a customer’s Facebook account to relevant and possibly interested people within the site, which drives traffic to their profile,” said Hill. “From there it’s up to the user to decide whether they want to become a connect.”

While one might question just how many companies would be interested in the practice of buying fans on Facebook, uSocial’s figures reveal a substantial number. The company says that they’ve so far delivered over 90 million Facebook friends and fans to customer accounts, which accounts for almost 20% of all users on the site.

Further reinforcing just how popular this practice is becoming, an early estimate by uSocial puts global spend on buying Facebook fans at $30 million for 2011.

More information on uSocial’s Facebook marketing service can be gathered by going to http://usocial.net/facebook_marketing.

Media Contact:
 
Leon Hill 
CEO, uSocial.net 
+1-646-233-4409 
http://usocial.net
leon@usocial.net

Pizza Fans Show Support with 98 Percent ‘YES’ Vote at Facebook.com/PizzaHut

DALLAS  (Profitable.com)  With a landslide victory at the polls, pizza lovers across the country have united to keep Pizza Hut’s $10 Any Pizza deal – any size, any crust, any toppings for just $10*.  From May 11-June 10, 2010, Pizza Hut asked America to vote on the fate of the incumbent deal at Facebook.com/PizzaHut.  An overwhelming 98 percent of voters clicked “Yes,” resulting in a resounding victory for the $10 Any Pizza deal.

“America has voted and the $10 Any Pizza deal will be extended at Pizza Hut,” said Brian Niccol, Pizza Hut Chief Marketing Officer.  ”The one-sided victory shows that pizza fans remain hungry for the combination of great taste and value.  We’re excited to continue offering that combination with our $10 Any Pizza deal.”

With a determination to keep the $10 Any Pizza deal alive, Pizza Hut Tweetologist Alexa Robinson packed up campaign materials and embarked on a tour across America to rally support.  As campaign manager, Alexa visited state capitols, engaged voters at city landmarks and made media appearances in New York City, Philadelphia, Little Rock, Richmond, Va., Columbia, S.C., and Des Moines, Iowa.

“From New York City to Des Moines, I met with hundreds of loyal Pizza Hut fans who voiced their support of the $10 Any Pizza deal,” Robinson said.  ”And that support resulted in an overwhelming victory in the Facebook vote.  The $10 Any Pizza deal at Pizza Hut is clearly a popular choice.”

Alexa tracked her progress on Twitter (twitter.com/pizzahut) and Foursquare (foursquare.com/user/pizzahut), giving Pizza Hut fans exclusive news of her whereabouts and access to photos from the campaign trail.  Fans can also visit Flickr (flickr.com/pizzahuttwintern) to view photos from the tour.

About the Pizza Hut Tweetologist

Pizza Hut invented the first-ever Twinternship in April 2009 with a call for college students to apply for an internship chronicling the company on Twitter, the micro-blogging platform that challenges users to think in 140 characters or less.  Alexa Robinson was the company’s inaugural Twintern and is now the full time Tweetologist at Pizza Hut.

About Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut, America’s Favorite Pizza, delivers more pizza, pasta and wings than any other restaurant.  The only pizza company to be named a top ten franchise in 2009 by Entrepreneur Magazine, Pizza Hut began 50 years ago in Wichita, Kansas and today operates nearly 10,000 restaurants in more than 90 countries.  Pizza Hut, Inc. is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM).  To check out what’s new at Pizza Hut visit pizzahut.com.

* For an additional charge, customers can enjoy Pizza Hut’s signature Stuffed Crust Pizza.