Social Media Trends Head East

Social media services are the same across the world but individual cultures and technology in each country mean that services often have very different meanings, popularity and usage.

That said, the west has a habit of innovating and implementing technology and web trends first. This gives an advantage for other markets, like Thailand, as high profile social media commentator Drew Benvie told Director last year.

“The advantage for Southeast Asia is that the region can observe the US and Europe experiment in areas of online marketing. When the time is right businesses can then roll out initiatives learning from others’ successes and failures.”

So here is a look at some social media trends in the UK which may be coming to Thailand in the near future.

Bespoke Social Media Events

The UK, and London in particular, is a hot bed for networking with a range of meet-ups from groups including Mobile Monday, Chinwag, Seedcamp, the original Twestival and more. Recently, however, London has seen social media marketing (SMM) take a firmer presence with the inclusion of two SMM specific events.

Social Media Week – 1-5 February 2010

Social Media In Business – 21 May 2010

Social media has always been a huge part of London’s networking scene in terms of spreading word and organising events but these events signify the huge significance SMM has on business and the world of London in general.

Thailand has regular SMM events however none are to the same scale of Social Media Week and none look specifically at the role of SMM in business. As social media becomes increasingly significant in Thailand this is likely to change.

Penny Dropping For Business

As a mediapost.com article reveals:

“A study of small business social media use by Business.com finds that small business leaders currently show a strong preference for ‘passive’ social media sources of business-relevant information  - such as viewing webinars or reading online ratings, reviews and company blog posts - over those that require more active interaction with others.”

The study shows that C-level executives are beginning to take a firm interest in social media; it is no longer only younger executives who can appreciate the value on offer.

There is still more ground to be covered but the fact that businesses are stepping up their interest and understanding of the medium undoubtedly means many more will embrace it to communicate and engage with customers.

Thai businesses are coming round to social media in rising numbers. A recent op-ed from The Nation claimed that more than 100 Thai companies use SMM – as social media, and the king of social networks, Facebook, continues to grow in Thailand, so does the business argument for evaluating the potential of SMM.

Foursquare Rolls On

Hitsearch recently made 43 internet marketing predictions for 2010, including:

“Social network Foursquare will make a massive impact in the London area, before being rolled out to more cities in the UK by the end of 2010.”

Barely a week passed before Foursquare announced it had launched in 50 new cities across the UK including Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and Edinburgh.

Can the incredible success the service has enjoyed in London be replicated across the rest of the country? Benvie certainly believes so.

“In October it [Foursquare] launched in the UK, and this month, it seems to have hit its first UK tipping point. From my login anyway, as much is happening on Foursquare every day that used to happen in an average week last year.

So could this be the making of Foursquare? Will its ability to link brands with users in a much smarter way than Twitter be its golden ticket?”

And he isn’t alone in his enthusiasm. Christopher Barger, director of social media at General Motors, recently told Information Week that “one of his priorities this year is to help company employees make use of Foursquare.”

Since its launch in Thailand Foursquare has proved to be popular amongst social media addicts and smartphones users in Bangkok.

It has not been without problems though. With no GPS check-in feature there is no way of knowing if a users has really ‘checked in’ or not.

Combined with typing errors and a lack of established venues, this lack of GPS has meant many Bangkok landmarks have more than one entry in Foursquare. This defeats the object of Foursquare -  why bother when someone else can add that venue with an alternative spelling?

Plus, as pointed out on Byte Me Bangkok, Foursquare has suffered from users updating their status from anywhere and everywhere, such as ‘my house’, the toilet and other irrelevant locations.

Foursquare in Thailand certainly has some work to do to imitate its addictive service in the UK.

A Bangkok-based Twitter user recently described the service to another:

“Think of a place and pretend you have been there, then repeat and you get colorful buttons on a website.”

Tongue-in-cheek it may be but the futility of Foursquare is clear. It could a very critical player in Thailand’s social media scene if it can be fixed and got up to the standard it has in the UK.