HK Social on Color: the new way to Share Photos

by Sai Pradhan, Managing Director, Trufflepig Search Limited, Hong Kong

Trufflepig Search Limited is part of a group of engaged social media practitioners in Hong Kong called HK Social. This month, Jay Oatway, “the most followed man on Twitter in Hong Kong” hosted HK Social’s monthly gathering, and shared his thoughts on the future of social networking using Color, a new photo sharing app, as an example.

Color is fascinating. It capitalizes on the urge we all have to see everything that’s around us, not just from our own angle, but from the other side of the room, providing a visual map of our surroundings.

Here’s how it works:

You post a photo or video publicly when you’re logged in, and your content is streamed to everyone else within 100 feet of your location. You don’t choose your network; this app does it for you. As a result, what you have is a series of images from various perspectives, all of the same location you are in yourself.

Click here to see a demo.

Jay uses the example of the International World Rugby Sevens, a tremendously popular annual event in Hong Kong which took place last month. While quite a few of us in the stands shared photos and comments via Twitter at this notoriously vibrant sporting event, how much more visual information might we have had if several people were using the Color app?

“It’s hard to pinpoint the best use case for this app because it is so unique in design. You can use it to share photos among a group without having to pass the phone around, or you can use it to keep a visual log of not only your life, but of the lives of those you see the most,” writes Ben Parr for Mashable.

It remains to be seen how well this app does in comparison to the slew of new photo and video sharing apps on the market, but we’re looking forward to discovering its many uses.

The Growth of Social Media Since 2010

Since 2010, Twitter celebrated its 5^th birthday and LinkedIn now reaches over 100 million users—needless to say, social networks are still growing rapidly and are retaining their user base as well. Facebook moved to business pages, Youtube is growing its popularity abroad, and the advancements of mobile devices took these services on the go. Social media is not going away. Last year’s impressive growth statistics pale in comparison to this year’s. LinkedIn alone posted 100% user growth over the past year, breaking the 100 million user mark.

By constantly re-evaluating audience needs and adjusting accordingly, many have managed to attract and retain users amidst a growing need for managing enormous numbers. Trufflepig Search uncovers the best experts making this growth possible for companies, agencies, and non-profits.

Here are the exploding numbers from Jake Hird of Econsultancy on the expansion of social media’s biggest players in a comparison of 2010’s users with those of today.

Get Involved with this Year’s Twestival, Thursday, March 24!

If you haven’t heard of Twestival, it’s a charity event that happens in over 175 cities all over the world on Thursday, March 24. Each local Twestival selects a charity that’s important to the community, tweets about it to build awareness, and attends charity events or volunteers throughout the day.

Volunteer venues and ticket information are still being locked down this week so more information will be posted closer to the 24^th. Here’s a link to the LA Twestival blog for more details: http://ow.ly/47lAW.

Check out this graphic from @DekelChui to see 5 easy ways to get involved with Twestival:

INFOGRAPHIC

Twestival 2011 LA is proud to support LA Team Mentoring on Thursday, March 24. Use hashtag #324 or @LATeamMentoring to join in on the conversation.

A Return to Traditional PR

The Edelman Trust Barometer for 2011 shows a change in trends from previous years that may surprise some. Since 2006, people have looked to their peers as authorities on consumer products, restaurant reviews, and everything else. CEOs have seen a proportionate decline when compared to the increased trust people put in their peers between 2006-2010. But this year is different. CEOs and corporate spokespeople are on the rise again, especially as more and more people expect transparency and want to start conversation with the companies themselves, not just the company’s customers. Granted, people still look to “people like me” when making purchasing decisions but they are also taking stock of the company’s reputation, brand and culture when making these decisions.

Does this change mark the return of traditional PR? Probably not at the expense of digital but integrated strategies seem to be most effective. Don’t ditch all the traditional concepts; learn how to apply them to the digital landscape.

Corporate Spokespeople Getting Their Mojo Back?

We Recruit the Best

There has never been a more exciting time to be in public relations, advertising and marketing, thanks to the revolutionizing momentum of social media, online communications and creativity.  The sheer adventure of being at the beginning of a new frontier, a global transformation, a whole new way of looking at communication, it’s exhilarating.

Also it’s confusing, and corporations are wondering—who’s who and where’s where in this new world.  Who really knows what they are doing?  And are most corporate communications departments fumbling as they learn?  Can anyone afford to make mistakes as they learn?

On this threshold comes a new company, called Trufflepig Search, to recruit experienced communications and marketing professionals who are fluent in social media and savvy about how to harness the beast to drive the brand.   Trufflepig Search—we dig deep to unearth the best in social media.  Like the prized animal that can sense where the most delicious mushrooms grow and dig them up unharmed for consumption by people who appreciate the best, we at Trufflepig Search know how to find the best communicators and separate them from the rest.  We bring them to client corporations for consumption as full-time leaders and coaches—the key to corporate social media strategy that works.

With offices in Los Angeles and Hong Kong, Trufflepig Search will launch in January 2011, to serve the hungry consumer brand companies who desperately need strategic communicators who can navigate and capture social media for their brands.   Launched as a separate division of respected executive search firm Berkhemer Clayton, Trufflepig Search will capture the category.  Our goal is that inside three months, corporate communications executives will think Trufflepig when they need one or a team of social media pro’s.

The team-members we place will transform your company for the digital age.

“We dig deep to recruit the best in social media,” let us know what you think of this tagline on our Facebook page, Twitter, or join our LinkedIn group; comments, follows, and likes welcome. And look forward to our website launch in January 2011!