Ciao's Social Media News

Britain puts its money on sunshine for the Bank Holiday

We've been asking you about your plans for the upcoming Bank Holiday weekend and it sounds like you're determined to enjoy the great outdoors this Bank Holiday weekend – whatever the weather!

Photo by: Mess of Pottage

A massive 74% of Ciao community members surveyed said that they will spend the weekend out and about with friends and family. 25% of people will also be investing in sunscreen before the bank holiday weekend arrives. An impressively optimistic 36% will be purchasing a barbeque to use at the weekend while for 15% the advent of summer means it’s time to get out the camping equipment!

Perhaps most revealing is the amount of money we’re planning to spend:
•    Two thirds of you will be spending over £50 on their weekend plans
•    20% will be spending between £100 and £300 in total
•    3% will be spending a credit-crunch-busting £500 or more

Which one of these do you fit into? Leave us a comment if you're one of the 3% spending £500 or more, we'd love to know what you're planning to do!

May 17th is Internet Day!

This Sunday will be more webby than ever, as we celebrate Internet Day. We've thought about what this means for Ciao users and produced some light-hearted profiles of common types of internet users. Do you think you fit into any of these (go on - be honest!) or have we missed any out? Please leave a comment if you've got something to say.

The optimistic one: Normally has a very positive approach to comments. Likes giving advice and recommendations to others; if there is something he dislikes he doesn't say it openly, just mentions “some” things that could improve or focuses on the positive stuff.

The grumpy one: Complains about everything. Companies are afraid of this one because any product or service is inevitably a disappointment. He won't stop until his words are read by every member of his network!

The techie one: Likes to stay ahead of the pack. His comments are, mostly, about gadgets or technological things. He uses hi-tech jargon and if he can he is happy to dismantle a favourite gadget in front of the camera.

The friendly one: Focussed on making friends through the web. He likes to spread positive feedback about users more than he likes to boast about himself. Always available and happy to share his details across other social networks.

The 2.0 one: You'll spot this one very easily because his comments are full of links to other blogs, pages or reviews. Takes each interaction very seriously and participates in many forums.

The 1.0 one: Unlike the 2.0 one, he only recently started using the internet. Often asking questions, like "what happens when I double click on the picture?"

The know-it-all: He believes he is always right and he doesn’t like to be contradicted. If someone leaves a comment but disagrees with what he says, he tends to answer in a strong and angry tone!

So admit it… which one are you? Leave a comment below...

Animated movie 'Up' by Pixar makes history at Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival opens today, and it’s the biggest event in the movie calendar since The Oscars in February.

The festival will showcase many of this summer’s high profile films, with stars in attendance including Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Quentin Tarantino and Jonny Depp. We expect these films will all be getting reviews later this year on Ciao once they are released into our local cinemas.

There’s a historic moment this year, when a 3D film called 'Up' made by Pixar will open the festival. This is the first time an animated film has opened the festival in its history.

To celebrate, here are a few links to other 3D films reviewed on Ciao that you might be interested in watching this weekend with some popcorn and a pizza:

• Journey To The Centre Of The Earth 3D
• Shrek – The Story Continues
• Spy Kids 3D: Game Over
• My Bloody Valentine 3D
• The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl
• Scar 3

Seen a 3D film that you loved or hated, but it’s not featured in our list? We’d love to hear what it was so please leave a comment.

Brands: Are you ignoring what your customers say online?

Last week we visited Internet World and surveyed many of the attendees to understand what people currently think about customer reviews and customer feedback. Ciao has been enabling customer reviews online for over 10 years, so we thought most people would understand that online feedback is vital for successful products.

We were surprised by how many brands still aren't making the most of customer feedback.

Many organisations are not engaging correctly with criticism of their brand online. 14% of those surveyed choose to either moderate or delete online criticism of their organisation or product, while 4% ignore it.

The importance of community engagement was highlighted as a key topic, with over half (52%) naming peer recommendation as the most important influence on their customer or end user.

Some more statistics we learned from the event:
•    69% believe that user generated content (personal reviews, video footage etc) helps improve sales
•    71% believe input from customers on online forums is of benefit to their business
•    73% think peer recommendations are very important to their customer/end user
•    87% consider the rising popularity of consumer review sites a positive development for brands and retailers
•    Three quarters respond to online criticism of their product or organisation, but only half do so in a public forum

We asked Tom Hyde, our E-Commerce teamleader at Ciao UK, to comment: “Finding the cheapest price is not enough for today’s consumer. They are looking out for much more than just the way they spend their money: it’s about where they spend it, on what products, the value their purchase offers and more. In this sense, comparison shopping has enormous responsibility in providing the best information and prices to a more eager and savvy user”.

“Innovative companies, especially retailers, need to have the courage to address their end user’s comments directly instead of adopting an instinctively defensive demeanour. This kind of online community offers a great opportunity to interact and engage directly with consumers and the things that matter most to them.

Tom highlights the way that HP is using customer feedback as a constructive model for new products: “On our German platform HP is currently running a pre-testing campaign where they directly get helpful user's opinions by a product test among a selected pool of members before market launch of HP’s latest printer. This is an excellent way marketers can and should use UGC rather than ignoring its potential. Consumers increasingly count on the opinions of other consumers as an ideal supplement to articles and tests among professional media. HP took a step forward in gaining direct contact with their target group and benefit from the multiplier's effect of these test results which will be then published as reviews”.

Have you seen any other evidence of brands ignoring customer feedback and then feeling the effects?

Ciao's User Generated Content presentation at Internet World

On Wednesday 29^th April, Ciao’s UK team-leader of e-commerce Tom Hyde presented to a full house of delegates at the Internet World expo, talking about how user generated content can help retailers drive sales. Tom discussed some of the main reasons why this has become such a key issue to e-tailers and offered delegates tips on how best to engage with UGC moving forward.

The main theme of the presentation was ‘Trust + Information = Conversion‘.

Tom urged etailers to recognise that consumers trust the reviews of their peers more than ever in the current economic climate and that their importance should not be underestimated. He noted that a wealth of information clearly presented to the consumer will help with purchasing decisions: where the consumer trusts the information they’ve received when comparing potential purchases, they feel more empowered to make the correct choice, and the likelihood of purchase increases.

Comments from the floor were a particular highlight of the session. One delegate raised the question of the difference between an expert/journalist review and that produced via user-generated content. Tom replied that reviews written by experts or journalists act as a useful guide to technical specifics, whereas a thorough review by an amateur will answer more practical questions e.g. whether the product is pocket-sized and what their personal experience was like.

Another question raised by delegates was how to detect reviewers plugging their own products rather than offering unbiased advice. Tom suggested a number of tips which included looking to see how many reviews they have written and on how frequent a basis – ‘fake’ reviewers often give themselves away through the tone and periodic nature of their posts. The community itself also detects unusual reviews and reviewers and thus helps the community to improve the reliability of the content generated on the site. 

We will be uploading a video of some of the highlights of Tom’s speech soon, so watch this space for more!

Launch of Ciao's new site design puts community at the heart of the site

Today we've relaunched our international network of sites with an exclusive new format. The new site has been designed to increase interaction and give the Ciao community in the UK a fresh new feel.

The new design at our comparison shopping site brings our unique community features to the forefront, giving easy access to both video and text reviews and focusing on the most active community members. There are new colours and a more intuitive structure to increase usability for our members. It also makes it easier to access the latest reviews, newest products and the community’s ‘best picks’, which highlights the most popular lists created by community members.

The homepage also draws attention to the top 5 recent products, and the latest user-generated charts and hitlists. It will also offer a newsletter subscription  for members who want to see the latest updates from the Ciao team via email.

More new features include ‘the good and the bad’ section where a particular product is highlighted with one positive and one negative review, demonstrating the full range of opinion within the Ciao community. The core review-reading and -writing pages have also been updated to make them even more intuitive and easy-to-use.

Established in 1999, we have maintained our position at the forefront of social shopping services for almost a decade. With 2.5 million pan-European users, Ciao is now one of the largest tailored social networks in Europe, focusing purely on creating the best possible shopping experience for its members. The motivation behind the new design is to build on this aspect of the site and reinforce its position as an essential shopping community, making reviews and product comparison even more relevant and engaging for its audience.

Stephan Musikant, Ciao Managing Director, commented: “Ciao’s success is built on the enthusiasm and passion of our community members. The new design makes it even easier for them to access the site’s features and, most importantly, to exchange their thoughts and opinions and interact with other community members. The new design, beta-tested on www.ciao.com, has had a great response from the American audience. Now that the format has been tailored to suit European preferences we are looking forward to similar feedback from our members in the UK.”

Online shoppers pick iPhone over BlackBerry… but only just!

Ciao members have spoken! In our latest survey,the Ciao community has revealed its must-have gadgets for 2009.

In gaming, the battle between Microsoft and Nintendo continues to be tight with the Xbox 360 scraping into the lead, with 1% more people selecting it as their must have gadget than the Nintendo Wii.

The Blackberry (Research in Motion) vs iPhone (Apple) match is just as close – many may think that the iPhone is a far more popular consumer device but in fact, the iPhone edged ahead by only 1%.

Take a look at the full results below:

A) If you had to choose one product you could not live without, what would it be?

1. 71% - Laptop
2. 8% - iPhone
3. 7% - Blackberry
4. 7% - Xbox 360
5. 5% - Wii or Wii Fit
6. 2% - Playstation 3

B) What file do you think should have won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2009?

1. 61% - Slumdog Millionaire
2. 18% - Benjamin Button
3. 8% - Frost/Nixon
4. 7% - The Reader
5. 6% - Milk

C) What products are you price checking now that you have previously bought on sight?

1. 33% - Food/clothes
2. 17% - Holidays/flights
3. 16% - DVDs/CDs
4. 16% - PCs/laptops
5. 12% - TV and home entertainment
6. 6% - Games consoles and games

What do you think? We'd love to hear whether you agree or disagree with these results - have your say in the comments below.

Top 10 LCD HDTVs, according to Ciao members

Most people searching for a new TV over the last 12 months have been looking for "high definition" and "LCD", according to searches on Ciao.

With so many to choose from and such cryptic names, how do you pick between a 40V4000 or an LE32A457? It's near impossible without a total guess (bad) or some good friendly advice (good!)

Here's the current top-rated digitial TV sets with HD and an LCD screen to help you choose:

1. Sony Bravia KDL-40V4000
2. Samsung LE32A457
3. Samsung LE19A656
4. Samsung LE37A656
5. Sony KDL-40V3000
6. Samsung LE40A656
7. Sony KDL-32U3000
8. Samsung LE-19R86 B
9. Sony KDL-32V4000
10. LG 42LG5000

There's more information about each TV, including a review of each one by real people like you, at the Ciao TV Reviews page.

Britain has turned its back on British Beer

Shhhh - don't tell the guys at CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale)!

Our latest hotlist shows that Brits are shunning local beers in favour of imported brands like Kronenbourg and Grolsch. Based on reviews and comments from our 2.61 million visitors, Kronenbourg is the most popular beer in the UK.

The top ten beers are currently:

1. Kronenbourg 1664 Lager
2. Guinness Draught Stout
3. Stella Artois Premium Lager
4. Hoegaarden White
5. Grolsch Premium Lager
6. Carling Black Label Lager
7. Heineken Export Lager
8. John Smith’s Extra Smooth Bitter
9. Foster’s Lager
10. Budweiser Lager

At number eleven, taking its place as the nation’s least favourite, was Carlsberg Special Brew Lager, with one reviewer saying bluntly “It stinks” – a sharp comment demonstrating the blunt but honest approach our users sometimes take!

Here's what Stephan Musikant, Ciao's Managing Director, thinks: “Brewing is an integral part of traditional British culture so we were amazed to find that so few British beers made it into the top ten. There are several significant British brands, like Theakstons, which are missing from the list entirely. It may be indicative of the country’s changing tastes.”

Do you agree? Why not leave a comment or better yet, review your favourite beer. View the list here on the Hitlist section of the Ciao website.