Howell+H+Final+Report+Proposal

Howell D. TO: Proximity Social Networking Teams FROM: Dennis Howell DATE: April 13, 2010 SUBJECT: Report Proposal

There is an new emerging market for social media integration which includes software like Pidgin and Digsby. I would like to investigate how social media integration will impact the future of social networking and discuss how this will change how our client's should reach Gen Y through social networking.

Need statement

Evidence from our focus group sessions suggests Gen Y wants their social networks to be simple and convenient. Social media integration would allow users to access and communicate through multiple social networks at a single location.

If Gen Y is heading towards social media integration they might change the way they use social networking sites. For example, if user access social networking sites through third party software such as Disgby, they would be less likely to browse the actual sites. This would imply that they would not see ads placed on sites like Facebook. Proximity clients need this report to understand the implications of social media integration on their ability to reach Gen Y and to properly decide if it is better to advertise through many social networking sites or to partner with the providers of the third party software.

Report Content

The proposed report, "Social media integration and indirect social networking" will cover the following topics
 * history and explanation of social media integration
 * potential and feasibility of social media integration
 * Digsby case study
 * analysis and recommendations

In addition, the report will include attachments that outline expert opinions and illustrate the current state of the social media integration market.

Source Review

Coursey, David.(February 10, 2010). Facebook Must Tell To Buzz-off (or Else). Retrieved April 10, 2010, from PC World: []

In Coursey's article he discusses how Facebook resists integration with Google Buzz. He explains how Facebook would lose money if it allowed for integration with Google. This argument implies that it is not in the best interest of social network sites to allow for social media integration.

How-to-Geek. (August 13, 2009). Digsby Joins the Dark Side, Uses Your PC to Make Money. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from Lifehacker: []

This article reveals some security issues that Digsby users may encounter. The author explains how Digsby "sneaks" ad-ware and other software onto your computer during installation. He also points out how Digsby uses the user's CPU to conduct market research. The author later advises people to stick to opensource software if users want to avoid the ads.

Rosenblatt, Seth. ( September 17, 2009). CNET Editor's Review. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from CNET: []

In Rosenblatt's article he discusses how Digsby is a convenient way to keep multiple chat accounts together in one place. He described how a users can update their feeds, view their friends feeds and get feeds streamed through Digsby. He also commented on the ad-ware problem, but explained that Digsby prompts the user during instillation before downloading such software.

Digsby. (August 14, 2009). Build 62 - Crystal Clear!. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from Digsby: []

In this article Digsby responds to criticisms of using ad-ware. It describes how ad-ware can be declined during during instillation. Digsby also discusses various business models under consideration. These models include; creating two versions, one with ads and an ad-free version offered at a modest price, or a business model that would continue to use ad during instillation and a research module that uses some of the user's unused CPU to conduct research.

Biggs, Napoleon. (March 26, 2010). How to Manage a Social Media Overload. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from Media.Asia: []

In Biggs' article he describe how social media integration is the next step in the evolution of social media. He describe how Digsby allows users to keep all their email and chat accounts together. He also describes how Digsby has a global status option that allows the user to set a single status for all of their social networking accounts. He believes that the desktop tray for real time updates only makes sense for Twitter.