Microsoft launches so.cl

Microsoft has launched So.cl, a social network, which was tested by Univ students in 2011. At the time facebook is going public, so.cl has had a quite launch. Company’s FUSE Labs has developed the site. This helps combine search with social network for the purpose of learning. It uses facebook login or windows login & also takes the name & picture from facebook for so.cl’s profile. Also one can post on so.cl & it won’t be posted on facebook. Share to facebook feature can be used to post to fb. So.cl uses bing search results & also the results are displayed. Recently bing has incorporated new features to search results with social data in the search results. Google has its own social networking site Google+. Facebook is still the king of social networking with more than 900 million members.

Smoked by Windows Phone – Marketing Campaign

Microsoft’s smoked by windows phone has gone viral across the world after first starting in CES at Las Vegas. In India, Microsoft student partners ran similar events & the prize was flash drives. Nokia is also running an event called Blown Away by Nokia Lumia in India pitching Nokia Lumia against other phones. With the arrival smartphones, marketing & advt activities for phones has taken a big leap with companies devising innovative campaigns to reach out to new markets & consumers. Social media is also playing a big role in virally spreading the information.

Microsoft to Buy Skype

Microsoft will acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. This will help microsoft move into both consumer & enterprise video and voice communications. Both google & facebook were also in the race to acquire Skype. Skype has 170 million connected users. Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect & many windows devices. This has become a top topic in the blogosphere. This will help microsoft to move into new market areas & also to fight competation against facebook, apple, google & others. This is the largest MS deal.

Top US Web Brands: Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, Youtube & others

Google, Facebook, Yahoo, MSN, youtube, Microsoft & others are the top US web brands. Google is the top most US web brand used primarily for search purposes. People are spending more time on facebook for sharing, posting, games & others. Yahoo & Bing are the other 2 search engines people usually look for information. Youtube is the top video sharing site with billions of views a month. There are other top brands also like Apple, wikipedia, ask search network & others. With social media sites like Twitter, facebook, youtube & others, the landscape of the internet is changing. Myspace which used to dominate the social media space earlier is facing a downward trend in visitors.

“Media Impact Value” of Apple, Microsoft, Google & others

General Sentiment, a New York based company, has come out with an interesting info on the Media value of the top 20 global Brands. With the increase in the number of the tweets, social media, news articles, brands are getting a lot of publicity. If a value is given to all this source of information, some interesting numbers appear. Apple has a media value of $4.5 billion in 2010 with New York times being their notable source. This is an interesting research as it shows how the top brands are getting a lot of publicity with the tweets & social media. These sources are also affecting the consumer sentiment about the brands as users discuss about the brands. BP due to the oil spill fiasco had generated a lot of negative impact in the social media sites.

Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, Google & GE in Interbrand’s 2010 top Brand list

Coca- Cola, IBM & Microsoft have maintained their first 3 positions in the 2010 Annual Interbrand list. Surprising aspect is Apple failing to make it into the top 10 inspite of tech crazy fans. HP has broken into top 10 slot for the first time with a good track of performance & acquisition. With 2010 still in the recession grip brand list indicates the companies ability to maintain the branding. BP due to its gulf oil spill has resulted in drop of rankings. Some of the companies have also made into the list for the first time. Interbrand considers a number of parameters to rank the brands. Financial, Automotive, FMCG are some of the sectors having a place in the rank.