News Flash! Elise Boonstra says.....

Facebook is now not only a SNS but it is now turning into a mass convergence platform which provides chat, messaging, video sharing and even citizen journalism providing information on local, national and international events. Who needs the news when you have Facebook?!

I am the type of person to read the paper/the news online to find out what's going on around the world. I personally don't rely on Facebook to find out what's going on in the world however how many of you do?  Each month more than 30 billion pieces of content (including weblinks, news stories etc) are uploaded to Facebook news feeds with this excessive number its no wonder that people are now relying on Facebook to feed them with the latest news and 'goss'.

Honestly I found out about the death of Osama Bin Laden after logging into Facebook (I had been to uni and straight to work and hadn't checked the newspaper), thinking it was some sort of joke I searched the internet in order to confirm what was posted left, right and centre on Facebook. Yes there might be somethings that you can believe that are posted on Facebook but in terms of the news would you rely on status updates feeding you information on the world around you.
Would you believe what is posted on a status in regard to the news? or Would you believe it if it is linked to a reliable source?

Research has shown that "Facebook as a traffic driver to top news sites are on the up" meaning that people are beginning to externally research what they read on Facebook. "On five of the top 25 websites, Facebook was the second or third biggest driver of traffic" and it is interesting to note that "Twitter, barely registers as a referring source,” Facebook is really becoming a platform of convergence I wonder whether it will ever overtake news sites as an informer for news!

What do you think about Facebook as a news source?

Retail and its Long tailllllllllllllllll

Think about this... You walk into Sportsgirl (for boys lets say... Roger David) you have your standard styles, colours and brands in order to cater for the mass market. What happens when you like something a little different?

At present we live in a market of generic clothing which is produced in mass quantities with the introduction of the internet and online shopping we have seen a recent trend in custom clothing and offbeat styles which allow for individualism therefore introducing the long tail concept into the shopping and retail industry.

Zappos.com is an online store which is and has been very popular in the US and UK. The larger the variety of styles that were added to the website the faster the online company grew, as the new variety of styles allowed for people in search of off beat styles and individualism. Now Zappos top 20% of products only account for half of the revenue, indicating that the long tail effect is also present in the retail industry.

How many of you agree that the introduction of internet shopping has allowed for more individualism and 'off beat styles' when shopping for clothing?