Apps, APIs and Opportunities: Platform integration and opportunities

apps, APIs and opportunities
Platform integration and the future of the internet

2 viadeo white paper apps, APIS and opportunites

apps, APIs and how platform
opportunities integration is
Platform integration and the future of the internet changing the internet
To even the most unobservant internet user it is
obvious that the online medium has evolved almost
Platform integration is at the heart of next past recognition in the past decade.
generation social networks. Creative “Social computing is not
developers are starting to spin a new web a fad. Nor is it something
of integrated services through carefully
that will pass you or your
constructed apps but do businesses get
it? Can this move towards enhanced company by. Gradually, Web 2.0, the term coined by Tim O’Reilly Some examples of changes bought about
integration open doors to true virtual social computing will impact in 2004, describes the web’s shift from a during the first internet revolution can be
mobility for business users or are apps and almost every role, at every passive to an active channel where it is the seen in the table below: 1
APIs really just for consumers wanting to play users themselves that control their online
kind of company, in all parts
Scrabble and raise virtual farm animals? experience rather than website owners
of the world.” or omnipotent editorial teams.

Nigel Fenwick, Web 1.0 Web 2.0
Forrester Research Ofoto Flickr
Britannica Online Wikipedia
Domain name speculation Search Engine Optimisation
Personal websites Blogging
Publishing Participation
1‘
What is Web 2.0’, Tim O’Reilly, 2005 [http://oreil.ly/9VS5Uk]


Since O’Reilly’s conception of Web 2.0 six The users themselves have also changed. In summary, internet users now want their web experience to be:
years ago there has been another evolution Spending more time on social networks
- the rise of the social web. Websites are even than search engines according to
Mobile The ability to access a service across multiple platforms such as desktop,
now just one vector of a three-way dialogue Hitwise Intelligence2, the modern internet
web, mobile or TV
between the site and their users and their user trusts peer recommendation and
users and each other as they compare opinions posted online over corporate Personalised Ability to change the website (or for the website to change itself) to
experiences or recommend a site’s content, websites, advertising and even newspaper be appropriate to their interests, preferences, location and profession
product or services: content3 (Nielsen). They have now come
to expect not only to be able to view and Interactive Ability to generate and amend content, make contacts online and
buy products and services online but they give opinions
also want to interact with the company and
brand providing them. Social Ability to recommend products, services and experiences as well
as receive recommendations from friends, contacts and colleagues

Open Ability to take their social or professional profile with them across the web

These needs are captured with the advent As the web continues to evolve it seems likely
of platform integration – a function that that an “open” web facilitated by increased
allows content to be channelled from integration will continue to intensify whilst
Website one website to be utilised or displayed by social media will become more powerful
another and is rapidly becoming a standard (privacy concerns not withstanding). This
feature of the online experience. document will explore how businesses,
organisations and associations looking to
The most famous example of this feature keep up with the needs of their online users
must be the ubiquitous Facebook ‘Like’ can take advantage of this social revolution.
button now splashed liberally across the
web; this tool allows Facebook users to
rate external content and have their
opinion displayed in their Facebook news
feed without ever having to leave the More than 150 million people
external site.
User Peers engage with Facebook on
external websites every month
2
‘Social networks now more popular than search engines in the UK’ Robin Goad, 2010 [http://bit.ly/dbag4U]
3
‘Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers the Most’ NielsenWire, 2009 [http://bit.ly/Q30up]


An overview of platform integration options is shown in the table below:

what is platform Type Examples Description Programming
experience

integration?
required?

Application PollDaddy app Micro website installed by a user to their
on Viadeo social networking profile allowing them to
Without platform integration social networks would not have extend the functionality of their network
and to personalise their experience
any applications or games developed by users and third party
businesses, the Apple iPhone would just be a phone and the Widget Facebook social Small program usually made up of only
world would be, well, less interesting. plugins such as one line of code - most only display basic
LiveStream or information
the ‘Like’ button

API Twitter via Collection of programming tools that allow
Tweetdeck or information stored on one site to be shared
Seesmic with another site based on a request for
information using a unique identifier.
The data is often returned in XML format

Platform integration is where two or more at the moment with over 50,000 websites
software platforms are linked by small bits implementing Facebook’s “social plugin”
of programming code ranging from the APIs and applications within a week of its
simple (widget) to the more complex (API/ launch in April3.
application); this then facilitates the transfer
of information from one to the other. This rush for websites to connect is not only

An average business An overview is shown in the table above.
to take advantage of the high number of
internet users who are registered on these
professional has 85 Although platform integration is not limited
sites but also because of the increasing

contacts on their
amount of time spent there –over 5.5 hours
to integration with social networks this a month according to another recent

professional network has become an incredibly popular form
3
Nielsen report4.
‘50,000 Websites Add Facebook’s Like Button And Social Plugins In First Week’, Nick O’Neill, 2010 [http://bit.ly/cY5YZH]
4
‘Led by Facebook, Twitter, Global Time Spent on Social Media Sites up 82% Year over Year’ NielsenWire, 2010 [http://bit.ly/92iqfO]


why bother?
Type Used for... Brand association

Social network Social reasons, to connect with friends Current, informal,
(Facebook, MySpace) and family, as a leisure activity sociable

Businesses receive more revenue from users
Microblogging Both social and business purposes in an Open, engaged,
who are active and engaged with their brand service (Twitter) exercise in self-promotion and a desire for personal
online. Can they afford not to take advantage? cutting edge current affairs/education.

Professional social To connect with professional contacts, to Professional,
network look for jobs, enhance career prospects and career-related,
(Viadeo, LinkedIn) elevate professional status thought leader

Large communities of active users Platform integration with a social network is User engagement social networking user name and password
2 out of 3 internet users belong to a social an easy way for external websites to tap into If a site user can find a more interactive streamlines the process and increases the
network according to Nielsen5. Social this group of highly engaged and socially and personalised experience on a site amount and quality of the information
networking powerhouse Facebook now has powerful internet users. (for example being shown content that is gathered about website visitors.
over 500 million users and is predicted to tailored to their profession, interests and
reach 600 million by the end of 2010. Twitter Brand association location or being able to see that their Low cost marketing strategy
has over 105 million and professional social The different genres of social networks contacts are also using the site’s services) The majority of the platform integration
networking sites LinkedIn and Viadeo have allow specific targeting of user groups and they are more likely to engage with the options are offered for free. That said
60 million and 30 million respectively6. an option to position a website’s brand in brand or organisation, products or services. implementing a platform integration
a certain way (see table opposite). strategy still requires an investment of time,
Those considered “heavy” social network Increased and more complete registration a careful consideration of the correct
users spend twice as much time online Return traffic Members of a social network have already options for the website concerned and
as the average internet user and despite Enabling website users to share content spent time and effort filling out a complete potentially programming experience or
representing only 15% of the total internet with their social networks will allow external profile (whether professional or social) – it is access to a web developer. However
population are responsible for over a websites to harness peer recommendation unlikely they will commit the same amount compared to other marketing strategies it is
third of total page views consumed online7. to attract return and new visitors back to of time on an external website. Offering a low cost and easy to implement function
their site. the option to sign in and register using their that can deliver high rewards.

5
‘Social Networking’s New Global Footprint’, NielsenWire, 2009 [http://bit.ly/acCrFb]
6
All figures correct as of July 2010
7
‘The State of Social Networks’ presented on Jan 14 2010 by Joe Nguyen, comScore [http://bit.ly/ceGsnn]


Some examples:

what are the Type of
integration Description User benefits External website benefit

possibilities?
Content Users can recommend products, Increased visibility Free marketing from
share services and content to contacts and kudos from customers to their trusted
on their social network their friends and contacts
colleagues
Platform integration enables organisations to reduce costs,
increase users, capture more data, increase conversion Simplified Users register for external sites using Saves time, Option for registration
registration the same account information that utilises their becomes more attractive
rates, promote their brand and drive revenues. they used to register with their social portable web increasing conversion rates,
network profile more data is captured
about user

Site to user External site visitors have a More relevant Relevance is directly
personalisation personalised experience based on information linked to revenue and
the data they have listed on their delivered at the engagement
social network profile right time

Organisations have the opportunity to use Interactive External sites can develop Increases the Increases reach and
the data contained in the social network to content placed applications and integrate them with relevance of third user base through social
create a personalised web experience for directly on the social network’s platform to be party tools by recommendation and
their site visitors. They gain the advantage
of creating an association with a brand that
the website visitor already knows and trusts
90%
of consumers
social network’s
platform
shared and used by its members adding a social
context
discovery

with their personal data as well as opening trust peer
up their content to be shared with a social
network. In return they benefit from extra
recommendations
over other Members of professional social
sources
networks are projected to reach
traffic, increased engagement and a more
complete registration process.

500 million by 2015


how could it
work for you?
These are just some of the possible applications enabled through

50%
the integration of a social network with an organisation’s online
or mobile services. It is all possible. The limit is just the imagination.

• Site visitors can share and recommend • Give site visitors access to the
your content on their networks directing functionality of their social network
qualified return traffic to your site from your site keeping them engaged
with your site for longer
• Enable users to see their network
newsfeed from your site encouraging • Incorporate a microblogging feature
them to add a feed related to your allowing users to “tweet” content or
content or brand thoughts about your site either to Twitter
or to their network
• Enhance your content with information
drawn from a user’s social network e.g.

Half of comScore’s Global Top 100 people related to a recruiting company
for a job description, companies 80% of companies use
websites have integrated with Facebook mentioned in an article or contacts who
have read the same article social media for recruitment

“For those who have
been working in the social
computing sphere the last
few years, either externally
or internally, it’s become

future thinking?
abundantly clear to us that
all business is becoming
Social Business”
The social evolution of the internet will change the way
Dion Hinchcliffe,
in which businesses promote products and services forever.
Communicating the Value
of Social Business,
Dachis Group

The drive towards openness, collaboration One thing that will remain constant is
and transparency is not only affecting the basic principle of marketing – build
the way people browse the internet and a good product, provide a great service
interact with those providing products, or interesting content and people will
services and content but is also changing talk about it. The change is how and
the way in which organisations operate. where they are talking about it. Platform
integration is an easy and necessary first
At a basic level incorporating customer step for organisations to get involved with
or user participation will become key a dialogue that is already happening, to
to surviving the social revolution but the engage with their consumers and brand
changes will also reach to the very core of promoters and to become part of a truly
organisations; management hierarchies will integrated open web.
become flattened, employees will become
“always-on duty” brand ambassadors and
professional partnerships will become truly
collaborative.

75% of Twitter traffic comes
from outside Twitter.com

Contact us
Viadeo
London UK
T: 020 7960 9667
E: partnerships@viadeo.com

www.viadeo.com

Apps, APIs and Opportunities: Platform integration and opportunities

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