One C90’er reckons if he had a dollar for every time he heard the words ‘Move over Facebook’, he’d have enough dosh to merely purchase his way to total world domination. So are the pundits right?

Pinterest is an invite-only social media site that allows people to create their own virtual pinboards. They can ‘pin’ images from the internet under their own categories (‘jewelry’, ‘home’, ‘cars’). You gather followers and there’s a ‘like’ function, which builds up that connectivity with others, who then go on to share these photos.

And here’s where brands and marketers gleefully rub their hands together.  Every time you click on an image, it will take you directly through to the website whence it came from. A recent Shareholic report claimed Pinterest drove more referral traffic to online retailers than Google+, YouTube, Reddit and LinkedIn combined. Ker-ching.

Now, a diverse range of companies, from Whole Foods to Etsy to General Electric, are already taking advantage of this wee feature, successfully leveraging their brands.

Pinterest was crowned TechCrunch’s Best New Startup of 2011, after it attracted more than 7 million unique visits last December – making the phenomenal jump from 1.68 million in September. Congratulations, Pinterest – you are now the fastest growing independent site to hit 10 million monthly unique visits in the history of the planet. No wonder marketers sat up and took notice.

To say people are hooked is somewhat of an understatement. Its appeal lies – and this certainly applies to its appeal as a marketing tool – in creativity and visual connection. As Pinterest co-founder, Ben Silbermann puts it, “Pinterest is a visual site, and a lot of people are visual by nature.”

It has even inspired copycat man-site, Gentlemint, a Pinterest-type platform for blokes who feel the latter is a bit too girly for rugged males such as themselves. (We still reckon ‘Gentlemint’ sounds a bit too polished for a rugged man-site.)

So should Facebook, et al be shaking in their boots?

This is a lovely little David and Goliath-type scenario, but successful niche social media platforms sites such as Pinterest are likely to build on their successes by integrating with and complimenting larger social media platforms rather than go head-to-head with them. And is success just may happen to elbows a few other secondary social media platforms out of the way in the process.

So in the meantime, consider making your brand Pinteresting.

Post-massive backlash, Twitter’s PR wheels furiously whirred to life. They logically explained that its censorship policy was actually a very healthy way of encouraging free speech.

It allows more transparency of censorship, explained Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo. A tweet in a country with social media censorship laws will only disappear in that country, but can be seen everywhere else in the world. Isn’t that great? Freedom of speech! And not only that – we’re so transparent, that we’ll also post the reasons as to why that tweet was censored in its own country. (“Abed said too much.”)

So, continued Dick, Twitter isn’t removing any content. Just censoring it in the country where Tweeters want to communicate. That’s reasonable, right? Isn’t it better that people can see that tweet elsewhere rather than not at all? It’s the lesser of two evils, see? (Twitter PR machine nods academically.)

Dick also clarified that Twitter doesn’t wish to do business in China or Iran, where its services are already blocked.  But it is OK with doing business in other countries who don’t block Twitter, but take umbrage at what its citizens post.

Basically leaving these people with the ability to tweet about the latest freak show on ‘Afghanistan Has Talent’ and listing what they’ve eaten for brekky. But nothing of substance.

OK, so maybe that wasn’t exactly how he put it, but it’s the basis of his argument. As we pointed out last week, Twitter is a company fundamentally based on free speech, and it’s now saying that free speech in certain countries is free speech only if it involves commentary on the weather and how bored they are at that moment.

But in the name of diplomacy and balanced, fair arguments, etc. etc. we opened up the floor here at Catalyst90 for a bit of discussion on whether Twitter’s eyebrow-raising rationale was a fair one or empty-minded idealism.

One C90 staffer pragmatically pointed out that Twitter is like any other business, and like any other business operating within territorial boarders they must adhere to local laws. If they didn’t like the local landscape, they could just choose not to do business there.

And therein lies our beef. (Well, most of us had beefs.) Twitter had a choice whether or not to do business in countries with repressive regimes, and they chose yes.

No matter how they package it, its censorship policy is not a noble cause, powered by some desire to give the repressed a degree of free speech. (And if it was, that was how their PR machine should’ve spun it when they made the original announcement.) It is driven by money, and the desire to expand their audience. Nothing wrong with wanting to expand business. (Hell, we know all about that.)

But Twitter had the clout to turn this around – potentially set a precedent and highlight the issues by refusing to do business with countries where freedom of speech is repressed. They already had a leg up on this especially after its game-changing role in the Arab Spring Uprising last year. But they folded.

And that is why, we are still of the opinion, that Twitter has, indeed, set up camp on the dark side.

But we respect those articles that argue otherwise. After all, it’s a democratic society, isn’t it?

Most of us have been there. Trying to acquaint parents, nana, granddad, kindly next-door-neighbour, etc. with social media. And sometimes it is a frustration beyond pain.

One member of the C90 team had to quickly delete a Facebook post when an errant parent randomly posted something about Piri Weepu’s groin injury underneath a post about the Queen’s congratulatory message to the All Blacks for winning the Rugby World Cup. (The comment really should have gone under the more relevant post of ‘Just saw Piri Weepu at the Warehouse’.)

But research shows Baby Boomers and those beyond are spending more time online – social media sites in particular. They’re connecting with old friends, family members who have flown the coop (including their offspring) and professional networking.

Whereas previous older generations were winding down in their 50s, preparing for a life in the slow lane, today’s are defying the definition of aging, living life to the fullest and debunking the gross generalisation that they are slow to adopt anything new.

And as a result, businesses – such as Apple – are conscientiously tailoring their online and social media marketing to appeal to Boomers. For example, Apple found Boomers tend to value experiences over products (while younger consumers tend to be turned on more by the gadgety).

You may want to consider this when reviewing your marketing mix – tapping into online marketing input from Boomers, moving your presence to where they are online, increasing awareness of your potential demographic and/or revisit messaging to a more cross-generational appeal.

This is the generation The Who sung about in ‘My Generation’ and counts the likes of Steve Jobs and Barack Obama among its contemporaries – suddenly not so old-fashioned now, huh?

For more detailed info, view the Pew Research Centre’s Internet study on Older Adults and Social Media.

The repercussions strike so deeply at the fundamentals of free speech we thought it might be a top story on one of New Zealand’s leading news sites. But no, that space was reserved for a story following the bidding war between Oprah and Barbara Walters for an interview with Pippa Middleton.

So since you were reading about Pippa Middleton, we’ll just fill you in a bit more: Twitter is on the end of extreme global backlash since it announced last Friday it will be restricting tweets in certain countries to conform with various local censorship laws.

The apparent rationale behind Twitter’s compliancy with government officials is the desire to expand its audience from 100 million active users to one billion. The change in policy would allow Twitter to coexist more comfortably within certain countries.

It’s a strange turn of events for an organisation crowned the harbinger of free speech in the wake of the popular Middle East civil protests last year.

Social media – Twitter in particular – gave activists a voice and vehicle to spread the word beyond their boarders. Not surprisingly, many critics of Twitter’s latest policy change are from those countries that are affected by Twitter choosing to play nice with governments.

There is a strong sense of betrayal; this once social media darling that previously enabled the repressed from certain corners of the globe is now committing to what is essentially the antithesis of what Twitter and tweeting stands for.

So whether Tweeters or not, there is outrage that the basic rights of free speech are being challenged by the very organisation which bases its entire success on free speech. (Forbes magazine tech blog item ‘Twitter commits social suicide’ has already become a popular hashtag.)

Fair to say, this sense of outrage was rife at Catalyst90 headquarters.

“Obviously, Catalyst90 is disappointed with Twitter’s decision to fold to pressure, especially as that pressure seems to be coming from particular governments looking to restrict free speech,” said Tom Reidy, Managing Director, Catalyst90.

“The Internet is a podium for free speech, and people are so used to having that now, they will find ways to get around it. Twitter’s move to censorship will only create underground social media platforms, where people can say what they want without the threat of government discipline.

“From a business point of view, I understand Twitter wanting to expand their target market, but it’s not freedom of speech when you’re pandering to the government, and making them your target market.”

And with that said, we’re just going to hop down off our soapbox before the Chinese government spots this and decides to target us.

No one gives Ashton Kutcher too much credibility. But your brand has credibility. And now, because you are immersing yourself in the glorious foray of social media marketing, it’s doing great things for your brand. It’s like a digital fist bump with your customers.

But there may come a time when you have to do the proverbial Ashton Kutcher back peddle, and dive into damage control mode (insert musical score of impending doom here).

Social media is a fantastic vehicle for marketing your brand – low cost, interactive and immediate. However, the ‘interactive’ and ‘immediate’ part means you are open to the opinions of your customers.

You have your customers’ best interests at heart, but what happens when their best interests are left in the merciless hands of a 16-year-old part-timer? Yes. Best not to wait until that happens, but plan ahead in case it happens.

It should be part of every business’ social media strategy. Think Kiwis are far too easy-going and controversy-shy to throw down the public gauntlet on social media forums? Here’s the thing – it happened last week (impending doom music).

Well, OK – the finger-pointing was done by an Aussie, but you get the drift. It happened here and the business involved found itself in a very uncomfortable and sweat-inducing spotlight.

Which is why it is so important to have a sound damage control contingency plan mapped out and locked away in your panic room. If you haven’t got one yet, work it into your business’ New Year’s resolutions list, and get onto it quick. It may save your business some panic.

New Zealand is a cosily small country. You can’t do too much without your neighbour telling your boss telling your mum. Imagine what it’s like when every second Kiwi has a keyboard at their fingertips and a cursor readily hovering over the word ‘post’.

Along with this announcement, the Commission released a report, News Media meets New Media, which triggered a flurry of activity at the Catalyst90 office.

The report suggests reforming regulation around ‘new media publishers’ such as bloggers and web-only news sites. But what sort of restrictions will this mean for social media in New Zealand? (As new regulations will most certainly have implications for social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.)

A separate section of the report also questioned whether current laws regarding harassment, breach of privacy and defamation in all forms of digital communication, are robust enough in this digital age.

Back at C90 headquarters, we collectively flew to our keyboards, and furiously typed away to further Google the topic. From there, it set off a wave of discussion and ‘what ifs’ amongst us.

Whilst everyone was unanimous in the support of curbing cyberbullying and harmful online behaviour, the report had some shifting uncomfortably in their seats about the potential to regulate social media.

How it will be measured? Where is the line drawn? How far is this going impede on freedom of speech within social media – which is, essentially, a vehicle for free speech? And is social media going to be even half as fun, if you have to do it gingerly with a regulating body breathing down your neck?

“Social media platforms such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook give ‘the average Joe’ the ability to freely voice opinions and encourage extreme debate,” said Tom Reidy, Managing Director Catalyst90.

“We understand that social media is now a huge entity in itself, so legal guidelines, especially for news in new media, are a reality.

“But we are wary of an independent body that potentially can have too much control over that freedom of speech. People have a right to commentary and we’d hate to see anyone inhibited by these new laws and find these new restrictions creep over into the Twitters and Facebooks.

“Having thoroughly researched the proposal, we are confident the Law Commission is taking a level headed approach and quite mindful not to impeach on anyone’s freedom of speech.

“As a dedicated and informed social media agency, Catalyst90 will definitely be making submissions for the Law Commission’s proposal, and on hand for recommendations and insights to ensure there isn’t any ambiguity or blurred guidelines around these laws, so it doesn’t end up impacting innocent social media bystanders.”

What do you think of the new proposals? Are you in fear for your freedom of speech? Are there any views you think should be expressly communicated to the Law Commission?

For further insights, view this highly informative TVNZ Media7 interview with Law Commissioner Professor, John Burrows about the Law Commission’s report and proposals, and a second interview with ‘new media’ commentators, Bernard Hickey and Tim Watkin.

Towards the end of last year (uh…a few weeks ago), leading online marketing software company, Optify, dusted off their crystal ball to forecast social media and marketing trends for 2012, while online tech blog guru, Mashable, recently released its seven social media predictions for the upcoming year.

Catalyst90 has a few predictions of its own, with Tom Reidy, Managing Director weighing in on what social media marketing trends will do in 2012.

• “Facebook growth will plateau, but we’ll see a great increase of brands using it as a platform to market their wares. There will be a greater use of video media on Facebook, and keep an eye out for subtle product placement in these.”

• “With YouTube reinventing itself as a TV channel, we’ll see more and more live streaming. People will become well-acquainted with this technology as a way of communication and marketing. It will be more readily available to viewers and those who want to use it as a means of communicating.”

• “‘Second-tier’ social media networks such as Instagram, Path and Pintrest will gain massive momentum and popularity as ‘niche networks’. These entice more passion and creativity in marketing, and can have as much of, and sometimes more impact than mainstream social networks.”

• “Increased interest and debate around who owns social media connections  – the individual or the employer?”

• “The Law Commission’s approach and strategy around proposals for new social media laws in New Zealand. They will have to be mindful that they don’t overstep the boundaries of control.”

That’s some good predicting there, Tom. Now, does that send chills up your spine, or what?

Maybe not, but be sure to bookmark this little blog piece, as we’ll be taking a look to see how all these predictions fared at the end of 2012 (eek!).

- Launch of Enigma, our social media data tracker which allows us to track specific data on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

- Launch of our Torch platform, which allows us to make our apps so cool and so quickly

- Increasing numbers within the Social Media Club, with 120 members meeting monthly to share and care about social media

- The release of the Election Twitter Worm which gauged the mood of a nation around the ups and downs of the 2011 Election campaign

- Live streaming the NZRU appointment of new All Black coach, Steve Hansen

- Releasing our slick and insightful Social Media Statistics video (and which is now already out of date)

It’s been a pretty exciting ride for us in 2011 at Catalyst90, and we just want to thank all of you who have shared it with us. We’ll see you once again in the New Year when we return to the office on January 3. (That’s right – social media never stops and neither do we.)

We wish you all a happy and safe Christmas and New Year filled with family, friends, food and sun!

The Catalyst90 Team

While we here at Catalyst90 can confidently call ourselves social media experts, it is a fast-moving beast that constantly surprises us with its limitless possibilities and revealing creative, new marketing insights. So what have the social media marketing trends of 2011 revealed?

Leading business and financial publication, Forbes took the liberty of researching this for us so we could blog it especially for you!

This review (in parts one and two) is a nice, tidy flashback of some social media PR and marketing gems, including social network fatigue (lesson #1), metrics being the master of perception (lesson #4), social media equaling a sense of belonging (lesson #7) and that (gasp! – dare we say it?!) there isn’t always a social media lesson (lesson #10).

The social media beast refuses to stay still – by this time next year there will be a whole lot of other lessons that never crossed our minds (no matter what lesson #10 says). So read up on this handy revision of 2011 in prep!

The appointment was viewed via live stream on Facebook last Friday, marking the first time the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) used social media as one of the platforms to deliver a major announcement – allowing rugby fans around the world to receive the news first hand.

The live stream was viewed by 1500 rugby fans from more than 20 countries, including the UK, USA, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brazil. This is an impressive result as publicity of the live streaming was only a short time prior to the Press Conference.

The All Blacks’ Facebook page has the largest following of any other New Zealand Facebook pages with more than 1.3 million followers.

Tom Reidy, Managing Director, Catalyst90 said the live stream announcement was a progressive move by the NZRU, allowing the All Blacks’ true fans to receive the news immediately, without having to wait for traditional news media to deliver coverage.

“The global rugby community was effectively present for that announcement and subsequent press conference, with no need to wait for stories to be typed up or the 6pm news to roll out,” he said.

This is especially positive for all those ex-pat Kiwis living overseas who want to keep up with their team.

David Barton-Ginger, Digital Channels Manager, New Zealand Rugby Union, said the decision to live stream the announcement was driven by the desire to give fans greater access to the All Blacks.

“We’re always looking for ways to bring our fans closer to the All Blacks. We were very pleased with the following we received given we only publicised the live streaming with a couple of posts on our Facebook page on the actual day,” he said.

“With the help of Tom and his team at Catalyst90 we connected our Facebook fans live into the new All Blacks coach announcement – a first for us and a very exciting move given the future possibilities.”