Is MySpace your space?

Nicolas, Liz, Adrian and I have been debating whether MySpace is still relevant or not. There's been some healthy debate on both sides. However, we all seem to agree that the only future MySpace has now is in focusing on their music proposition. The question is: based on its rapid decline should brands still pay attention to MySpace, or should they avoid it and focus on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Looking at the chart below it's clear that Facebook is the 'alpha' social network in the UK. While Twitter certainly punches above it's weight in terms of news references, getting a disproportionate amount of news mentions vs. traffic (although the graph only shows visits to twitter.com, ignoring the widespread usage through mobile and desktop apps such as Tweetie and TweetDeck).

Looking at the ComScore stats it seems that MySpace is either dying, or transforming into a niche network. Facebook on the other hand is still experiencing strong growth. And, if we have some #uksnow (#uksnow was a top 10 trend on Twitter in 2009) this Christmas Twitter's growth could snowball (sorry, couldn't resist).

What's your view, is MySpace your space?

What were you doing on the internet 10 years ago?

Mainly waiting for the blue bar on your dial up modem? And certainly not doing what you're doing now. Like blogging for example. Or maybe you were ?

Anyway, it's an interesting thought. So here's a nice little film from Comscore celebrating their 10th anniversary bringing it all into perspective and to remind you that what's going to happen in the next 10 years will dwarf what's happened in the last.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf4KZwr_JRk

Google Chrome - Advert

This is a lovely executed promotional piece for Googles browser Chrome.

Play Video

Proximity Says...

Click on the link above to see a snapshot of some of the things being talked about @Proximity recently.

When digital blends into the real world: Google Favorite Places

We all know the newspaper articles on restaurants windows trying to convince us to go in. People are naturally inclined to trust a restaurant more in this case as people crave for approval of their choices by authority figures, in this case "the food critics".

But newspapers, magazines and editorial content only offer one single opinion and can be biased. So more than those recommendations, consumers trust other consumers. According to Nielsen, 70% of people trust consumer opionions posted online.

And this is where Google shows its brilliance again: they identified over 100,000 businesses in the U.S. as "Favorite Places on Google" based on Google users reviews on Google Maps for example. Each business received a traditional window decal with a unique QR code that you scan with your phone to read reviews, star the business as your own favorite and more.

This is a perfect example on how the power of peer-2-peer recommendations amongst consumers online translates itself into the real world and how the borders between online and offline are fading.

I'll look forward to see on how this will expand in the future to for example with GPS, augmented reality and the your own friends network as a mobile recommendation panel on the go.

Father Christmas Gets Personal

You can now receive your very own personalised video message from Father Christmas using the PNP console, a technological breakthrough that makes real-time communication with the North Pole possible.

The site showcases a 'patent-pending' technology platform called U, which customises content in real-time from the user's choices or from existing user profiles.

Create your message here: http://portablenorthpole.tv/home/

Proximity Blog Versus Site