Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/240181
48 Information Technology maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 JANUARY 2014 Social media sharing in the world GIANLUCA FINO SOCIAL media refers to interaction among people in which they build, share, and/or discuss information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content". Moreover, social media hinge on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create debate on, and modify user-generated content. They have changed the manner in which organisations, communities and individuals communicate between each other in a substantial way. The discussion of which social media outlet is the best to share/advertise on is a contention of debate that spans to all four corners of the earth, with everyone having their personal opinion, Recent research from Gigya, has come out and the results are not as obvious as one might expect. In the third quarter of 2013 (JulySeptember), Facebook was still top dog as the destination where consumers have shared their content. Twitter and Pinterest increased their share percentage. The recent research goes further, by dividing the content sharing by industry vertical and by region which gives more in-depth information of where each business should be promoting their product/services to hit the right target audience. eCommerce Pinterest's strength as a sharing was most evident on eCommerce sites and apps where it had already taken the lead from social media giant Facebook in the previous quarter and continues to consolidate that lead. To continue increasing their share percentage, Pinterest has recently released Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that will allow businesses to showcase their most popular 'pins' on their own websites and mobile apps. Travel and hospitality Facebook (61%) has continued to assert its dominance as the sharing destination for Travel and Hospitality with its closest competitors, Twitter (14%) and Pinterest (17%), losing even more ground from the previous quarters. Consumer brands The usual three are also present at the top of this industry for content sharing. Facebook (41%) and Pinterest (11%) have both experienced increase in share percentage, Facebook had a 5% increase whilst Pinterest had an increase of 9%. Twitter is the only one of the three that has not improved when compared to the second quarter. The increase in sharing to Pinterest and Facebook is great news for Consumer Brands, because consumers tend to share to share to these platforms when they have a strong emo- More tenants sign on at SmartCity Malta OVER the past months, SmartCity Malta has welcomed further tenants at its premises in sectors ranging from F&B, media, ICT and back office operations. This has resulted in an added 7,000 square metres of leased space at SmartCity Malta. Among these business partners are Prestige Malta, Perfin Services Ltd., Ammcom Limited as well as F&B tenants, Wejla by Tartarun, Chocafe, Melita and others. Speaking about these developments, SmartCity Malta CEO, Anthony Tabone said, "We are pleased to welcome further business partners at our premises. These will not only benefit from SmartCity Malta's offering but also from the expertise and resources acquired from the business clusters in Dubai, which include, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City." In today's ICT-enabled knowledge economy context, SmartCity Malta offers the country's most advanced and reliable ICT infrastructure, able to meet the high technical requirements of mission-critical digital operations. The project also offers full flexibility in terms of size of office space, from large open plans of hundreds of sqm to fully fitted-out ready-to-occupy units reasonably sized for an operation of up to six to seven persons. The open plan design allows flexibility to companies in terms of corporate branding, space utilisation and ICT distribution within their offices. The 'Plug & Play' units with pre-installed service connections, equipment and amenities, allow for prompt initiation of business operations with minimum effort and investment. "Investing in SmartCity Malta translates to investing in a powerful global network of knowledge-based business parks, which gives enterprises unprecedented access to a variety of important global markets," Tabone concluded. tional connection to the content that they are sharing. Regional social media sharing In Europe, according to research from Gigya, content-sharing via Twitter is almost as popular as via Facebook – unlike in any other region in the world. Facebook was the winner in every region of the world, according to the third quarter 2013 study of clients using Gigya technology to facilitate sharing. Only in Europe did Twitter come close to Facebook's lead, however, reaching within 2 percentage points of the social networking giant's sharing prowess. Twitter was also relatively popular for sharing in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa, where more than three in 10 clients reported it was the primary social network used to share content. All-in-all it is very evident that social media and internet marketing will definitely be looked at closely by every company that wants to increase its sales and grow. Gianluca Fino is the Business Development Executive at Alert. For more info: info@alert.com.mt