Everything you need to know about social media but were afraid to ask / Italy

Overview According to data published by Nielsen in 2009, there are 23 millions active internet users in Italy about 43% of the population. This is a relatively low number if compared to other European countries such as the UK, where the percentage of internet users reaches 70%. Broadband connection is also much more widely available in the UK (63% of the all UK households against 39% in Italy). Despite limited availability of fast internet access and little inclinations towards web innovations (e-commerce, credit cards use etc ), Italy is experiencing a significant increase in the use of Social Media and Social Networks in particular (the number of users has trebled over the last year). International Social Networks such as Facebook, My Space Linkedin and Netlog remain the most popular, followed by an ever increasingly number of local social media platforms. Web 2.0 tools are also becoming more popular for marketing and PR purposes, although companies active social media presence is still limited. Analysing a list of 47 Italian companies (Aziende italiane nei social network TSW Blog) using Web 2.0 tools, it emerges that most are present on You Tube with video posting, followed by a fairly good number of Facebook profile pages. Fiat and Barilla case studies shown below are two examples of Italian companies using social media effectively. General trends indicate businesses are turning more and more their attention towards Social Media and show a growing interest in investing in this area in the near future. www.admirabilia.it 2

Contents Chapter 1: About Ad Mirabilia & ECCO 4 Chapter 2: Country Research 6 Chapter 3: Different Social Media Types 8 Chapter 4: Case Study Examples 13 Chapter 5: Online Social Media Tools, Tricks and Listening to the Online 16 Conversation Chapter 6: Popular Blog Tools and Blog Posts 18 Chapter 7: Other Useful Social Media Tools 20 www.admirabilia.it 3

Chapter 1 About Ad Mirabilia & ECCO

About Ad Mirabilia and ECCO AD MIRABILIA is a dynamic medium-sized independent Italian Public Relations agency delivering full service consultancy for corporate, product and brand communications. Founded in 1990 by Lorenza Bassetti, the Agency is owner-managed and based in Milan where its energetic team of 18 professionals is skilled in PR and marketing communications programmes both Business to Consumer and Business to Business. Ad Mirabilia 00 +39 02 4382 191 www.admirabilia.it In its 18-years activity, AD MIRABILIA has achieved a strong expertise in several market sectors, working both for leading multinational enterprises and smaller clients such as: Industrial, Logistic, Security, Design, building and furniture, Fashion (Apparel & Accessories), Lifestyle and Luxury, Beauty and Wellness High-Tech, Entertainment & Leisure, Boats and Automotive, Services, Food and Beverage, Non profit. Since 1999 AD MIRABILIA has been a member of ASSOREL, the association of full-service Public Relations agencies, which includes the major PR companies operating in Italy. In 2002, AD MIRABILIA joined ECCO network of International Communications, a powerful and dynamic PR corporation active in more than 40 countries worldwide. ECCO +44 (0)20 7592 3102 www.ecco-network.com www.admirabilia.it 5

Chapter 2 Country research

Country research According to recent research results published by Censis in November 2009, the five most popular Social Networks in Italy are Facebook, known by 61,6% of Italians, YouTube (60,9%), Messenger (50,5%), Skype (37,6%) and MySpace (31,8%). The percentages reach even higher values between the younger age group (14-29). Nine out of ten young people are very familiar with the world of Facebook (90,3%), YouTube (89,2%) and Messenger (89,1%) On the whole, it can be estimated that around 33 millions Italians know at least one social network and the number of actual users reaches 19,8 millions. Some other key usage figures in Italy include: > 30,145 millions claim to have Internet access from anywhere (home, office, schools etc.) and through any device. > 13 million Number of Facebook users (Source: Facebook Advertising Platform, November 2009) > 2.9 millions MySpace users and 160 million pages visited > 1 million Twitter users and 28,000 of pages visited www.admirabilia.it 7

Chapter 3 Different social media types

Different social media types The most popular Social Media platforms in Italy are usually the International ones as listed in the UK research. For Country specific Media types, please refer to the ones listed under each category: Social Networks, Social News, Social Bookmark, Aggregators and Communities. Social networks With a recent increase on number of users, Facebook, the most popular Social network in the country (13 million in June 2009), has overtaken MySpace (2.9 million users), while Netlog (more than 3 millions registered users in Italy) has achieved a great success amongst teenagers, quickly followed by Badoo. Italian companies have only just started to use Twitter, the most popular microblogging network internationally. There are some smaller country specific communities, mainly represented by sites where people can share specific common interests or information (music, travel) or professional networking communities. Among business social networks, LinkedIn remains the leader, followed by Xing, www. xing.com, the international network for professionals recently arrived in Italy with the aim of offering a useful tool to manage and search work related opportunities and contacts. An already considerably successful social network is A small world, the most exclusive web community, only accessible via few available invites offered by already registered users A Small World http://www.asmallworld.net/ Zzub http://www.zzub.it/ The first Italian consumer Social Buzz platform. Registered users can express and share opinions, generating word of mouth on products and services Link2Me www.link2me.it Professional network and market place that allows to find people and opportunities in marketing, web, graphic design etc. TravelsMania www.travelsmania.com Travel and holidays social network, where people can publish articles on their trips or favourite places. Other sites are created for people belonging to specific age groups (mainly teenagers or university students) or designed to meet people living in the same region/city. Duepuntozero http://duepuntozero.com/ CiaoPeople http://it.ciaopeople.com www.admirabilia.it 9

Blogs According to BlogBabel http://it.blogbabel.com/, a blog portal that analyses, tracks and classifies the most important discussion, news and videos shared in the Italian blogosphere, the most popular blogs in Italy at the moment, are the ones written by journalists about politics and current affairs. Piovono rane http://gilioli.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/ Beppe Grillo s Blog http://www.beppegrillo.it/ Blogbabel also publishes a list of the Top 500 Italian blogs, divided by categories: http:// it.blogbabel.com/classifica-blog/ Micro blogs The most important micro blog in Italy, after Twitter, is MEEMI http://meemi.com/ a microblogging service entirely Made in Italy, very similar to Twitter and interesting for non-english speakers. On Meemi you can share text, images, videos, favourite links and organize events. Another popular microblogging service is the Italian version of Hictu, launched by Abbeynet in June 2007. Hictu allows a maximum of 160 characters and lets you share video and audio messages. http://www.hictu.com/ Content sharing communities Flickr, Slideshare, YouTube are the most commonly used content sharing communities on the web in Italy. There are also some Italian specific platforms that allow sharing videos such as: Libero http://video.libero.it/ A service offered by Libero, the Internet portal owned by Wind. It allows sharing and voting the best videos. Tuo video http://www.tuovideo.it/ Italian video sharing platform, very similar to YouTube Youreporter http://www.youreporter.it/ C6.tv http://www.c6.tv/ Citizen journalism sites where Videos posted by users can also be broadcasted by national news channels. www.admirabilia.it 10

Virgilio foto http://fotoalbum-foto.virgilio.it/ The photo album area within Virgilio, the popular search engine, news portal owned by Telecom Italia. Fotobookmark http://www.fotobookmark.it/ Another photo gallery storage site where registered user can create their own web space and upload their images with comments. Social news aggregators Find below a list of the most popular Social news aggregators published in Italian OkNotizie http://oknotizie.virgilio.it/ It s the most famous Italian Social news site and can generates thousands of visits Diggita http://www.diggita.it very similar to Digg, it s one of the most popular sites at the moment. All news can be voted and commented upon. Wikio http://www.wikio.it Famous French social news portal. The Italian version is becoming increasingly popular. It also contains a shopping area. Fai Informazione http://fai.informazione.it/ SocialDust Italia http://www.socialdust.com/ Both sites publish latest news on politics and current affairs. Upnews http://www.upnews.it General interest social news site Reddit Italia http://it.reddit.com/ Italian version of a popular international social news site. ZicZac.it a well designed and developed Italian social news site. www.admirabilia.it 11

Social bookmarking A popular Italian social bookmarking site is Segnalo http://segnalo.virgilio.it It works in a very similar way to delicious, allowing to save articles or sites by tags and with descriptions. Kool on the web http://www.koolontheweb.com Another social bookmarking website that allows you to store, organize and share your bookmarks on the web. It searches and offers news both in English and Italian. Wiki Wikipedia is the most widely used wiki in Italy as much as internationally, but some country specific examples can be mentioned: the Italian version of Wikimedia, and Ubuntu. Podcasting (Personal Option Digital Casting) indicates a system that allows to automatically download MP3 audio files, regularly published by news sites or blogs, using the same RSS feed technology applied to news feeds. AudioCast.it http://www.audiocast.it/ Podcast.it http://www.podcast.it/ Reference sites that publish up to date directories of podcasts in Italian and offer news and advice on related technologies. Amongst the most popular podcasts in Italy we find radio stations podcasts such as Rai Podcast Radio3, Radio DeeJay, Radio 105, Radio 24, Radio RockFM e Radio Popolare that allow to listen to favourite programs whenever the user chooses to. Podcasting is also used in journalism, as in the case of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica and the popular blog Voglio scendere of journalist Marco Travaglio. http://www.voglioscendere.it/ www.admirabilia.it 12

Chapter 4 Case study examples

Case study examples Before introducing two case study examples, we d like to report an extract from an article published on Spot and Web, a Media and Communication magazine (http://www. spotandweb.it/), which offers some interesting information about the approach Italian companies are taking towards the use of Social media and Web 2.0 for communication purposes: According to a recent survey, 90% of interviewed Marketing and PR managers think that over the next 5 years traditional media will survive with great difficulty along side the new emerging digital media. Among the best-known new media communication tools most suited to support communication strategies blogs and forums are the most mentioned (42%), followed by YouTube (25%), Facebook (10%) and Twitter (8%). With a few exceptions, companies are yet to employ professional figures whose sole role is to monitor Social Media and online conversation, although 20% of interviewees think this will happen in the near future. Communication professionals also think that 2 or 3 hours a day is the average time needed to dedicate to online audience engagement activities, and 100% of all those interviewed think that monitoring Web Reputation will become a strategic factor, directly affecting a company profits. Two examples of Italian companies that have already successfully implemented the use of Social Media in their Communication strategies are Fiat and Barilla, their case studies shown below: FIAT Fiat, the Italian car manufacturers based in Turin, has embraced the Web 2.0 era and is efficiently using social networks channels to communicate with their clients. Fiat has published profiles on all main social networks: from Facebook to Flickr, from Friendfeed to Del.icio.us. The company has also launched Fiat on the Web, its very own interactive portal/news aggregator that gathers all Fiat contributions and news published on social networks, promotes new models and tries to build communities around it, allowing the company managers to listen to their client s comments and better understand their needs. There are also blogs dedicated to specific models such as the one on Bravo and Punto. http://www.fiatontheweb.fiat.it./ BARILLA Mulino Bianco Barilla, the well known known pasta/food maker, has also successfully entered the world of Web 2.0. Since March 2009, Barilla has launched Nel Mulino che vorrei, a brand community, interactive portal, designed with the objective of better understanding what consumers want from the company. It s the first of this kind in Italy and allows registered users to give ideas about potential new products and packaging, promotional activities or about Barilla social and environmental commitments. Ideas get voted and commented upon and after a phase feasibility analysis www.admirabilia.it 14

the best ones get eventually put into practice. There are 28 million Italians surfing the web and searching for news, friends and opportunities to share ideas: internet represent the new communication frontier today, we thought it was the ideal way to converse with people, get to know and share their ideas, and where possible, put them into practice. Says Eugenio Perrier Mulino Bianco Brand Development Director. http://www.nelmulinochevorrei.it/ www.admirabilia.it 15

Chapter 5 Online social media tools, tricks and listening to the online conversation

Online social media tools, tricks and listening to the online conversation As for other social media types, platforms such as Google Alerts, Google Blog Search, Technorati, and Delicious remain the most relevant tools for Italian Internet users that intend monitoring online brand conversations or perform other web analysis activities. There are also some country specific tools, mainly focusing on the blogs world: You Rank It www.yourank.it An interesting monitoring tool for the Italian web scenario it s YouRank.it, which divides Italian web sites by category, analyzing weekly growth trends and assigning rankings for each one. To participate, users need to download and install the relative application. Liquida www.liquida.it A service that selects and alerts about contents produced exclusively by bloggers, with the chance to search posts and comments on specific subjects as well as blogs. It also publishes ranking lists from Technorati Rank, Google Page Rank e Alexa Reach. Wikio www.wikio.it News and blogs search engine. Monitoring thousands news sources, it classifies all collected information in real time. News archive is based on their relevance and their popularity expressed by other users. www.admirabilia.it 17

Chapter 6 Popular blog tools and blog posts

Popular blog tools and blog posts Since 2001, there are a number of free platforms that allow publishing and maintaining a blog in Italian. The Italian version of Blogger and Wordpress.com are amongst the most commonly used, another popular platform developed just for Italian speaking bloggers is Splinder, others to mention are Io Bloggo, Il Cannocchiale, Tiscali, Blogdrops, NoiBlogger, Libero. Other popular networks functioning as umbrella platforms for theme-based blogs are: Blogosfere Professional news blogs network divide by subject http://blogosfere.it/ Blogo http://www.blogo.it/ Top Blogs divided by sector (Source: http://www.wikio.it/blogs/top) Politics 1 Piovono rane http://gilioli.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it 2 Beppe Grillo s Blog http://www.beppegrillo.it/ 3 Giornalettismo http://www.giornalettismo.com/ High Tech 1 Manteblog http://www.mantellini.it/ 2 Luca De Biase http://blog.debiase.com 3 Il Disinformatico http://attivissimo.blogspot.com Marketing 1 Ninja Marketing http://www.ninjamarketing.it 2 Mini Marketing http://www.minimarketing.it 3 Chicago Blog http://www.chicago-blog.it www.admirabilia.it 19

Chapter 7 Other useful social media tools

Other useful social media tools Below find a list of Rss Directories and blog search engines platforms published in the Italian language RSS Directories http://www.rssitalia.it/ Italian directory of news feeds offered by a number of different services and news sites. A podcast and video directory is also available. Registered users can signal their own RSS feeds. http://www.rssdirectory.it/ Another Italian free RSS feeds directory/web news aggregator allowing to create your own directories and post news. Blog Search engines Blogbabel http://it.blogbabel.com/ Content aggregator and blog analysis service, showing the most popular discussions and videos as well as an Italian blogs-ranking list. BlogItalia http://www.blogitalia.it/ Web directory. It classifies blogs by keyword, subject and source. Il Bloggatore http://www.ilbloggatore.com/ News feed aggregator on IT and technology blogs. Cerca Blog http://www.cerca-blog.com/ Blog search engine and directory. Statistics Audiweb Audiweb research results on on-line activities in Italy September 2009 http://www.audiweb.it/cms/view.php?id=6&cms_pk=161 Censis Censis was founded as a social study and research institute in 1964, becoming a legally recognized Foundation in 1973 through Presidential Decree. http://www.censis.it/277/372/6697/6935/6956/6957/content.asp Office for National Statistics (UK) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=8 (Sources: National Statistics Omnibus Survey) www.admirabilia.it 21

Statistics elaborated using Facebook Advertising, Google AdPlanner and Google Trends. More Information/Sources For a brief analysis on the 10 most active social media Italian brands http://issuu.com/denisr/docs/socialmedia2009 A short research published in February 2009 by FrozenFrogs srl a Digital Media Agency For a comprehensive and constantly updated list of Italian Brands presence on social network: http://blog.tsw.it/search-marketing/aziende-italiane-nei-social-network_0002654.html Blog listing Italian social media platform divided by categories http://www.dariocaputo.com/2007/08/i-social-networks-italiani/ Interesting articles on new digital communication and social media by Digital PR http://www.businessandblog.com/ Insightful articles and statistics on Pr, marketing, social media and Social networks http://www.vincos.it/ Data on Social Media in Italy http://www.slideshare.net/lrossi/social-media-italia One of the first Italian blogs and Social media and Web 2.0 http://www.socialware.it/blog For more information on Fiat case study http://www.norz.it/weblog/marketing/due-esempi-di-social-brand-fiat-e-roland/ http://www.bloginazienda.com/case-study/fiat-on-the-web/ http://www.kawakumi.com/2009/06/29/fiat-on-the-web-again/ For more information on Barilla s case study http://www.iochatto.com/barilla-entra-nel-mondo-del-20/1830/ Socing.net http://socing.net/statistiche-social-network-in-italia-nel-2009-solo-facebook-e-twittercrescono/ http://academy.online-marketing.it/2009/06/fiat-on-the-web-la-casa-torinese-e-i-socialmedia/ http://admaiora.blogs.com/maurolupi/2009/03/le-persone-attorno-microsoft-barillaetelecom-italia.html http://www.online-marketing.it/social-marketing/2009/marketing-conversazione-mulinobianco/ http://digital-intranos.blogspot.com/2009/03/nasce-nel-mulino-che-vorrei-la-prima.html www.admirabilia.it 22

http://www.spotanatomy.it/2009/nel-mulino-che-vorrei/ http://www.manageronline.it/articoli/vedi/1456/il-marketing-degli-italiani-nel-mulino-chevorrei/ http://webwatchman.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/nel-mulino-che-vorrei-le-brandcommunity-online/ www.admirabilia.it 23