I was recently interviewed by Delphine Parlier, co-founder of Timbuktoo , a company that creates brand names. Specializes in naming the last 5 years, it "puts his creative energy to your project marks" by using innovative technologies. Here is the conversation I had with her.

Delphine - Trademarks are they compatible with social networks?

Franck: 5 years ago this term was the preserve of geeks and other Internet enthusiasts. Today, social networks have invaded the social space, marketing, media and even politics, as we have seen the role of Facebook and Twitter in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. But what really are the new media, and how companies and brands they can incorporate them into their strategies?

How would you define social media?

Social media is the industrialization of the digital millennium need people to come together and exchange ideas. That is why they have such a boom and they are here to stay. They can create links between individuals, and from the more commercial, between businesses and individuals.

What are the main actors?

Facebook is the main actor. His offer has evolved tremendously to include email, chat, géolocalization with Facebook Squares Deals promotion with Facebook. Facebook becomes more threatening competitor for Google with the aim of capturing the advertising market brands.

The other players are the most prominent Twitter, created in 2006, which brought about a new concept: the micro-blogging and Fousquare for geolocation has grown by 3600% in 2010.

Everyday new players are emerging ... For example, French is positioned Plyce Groupon competitor on the field "bulk purchasing". As things are going very fast in this area, when you think of the "main actors" must look to the future ...

How big is this phenomenon?

The audience of Facebook is huge. The 3rd largest in the world surpassing Yahoo, Facebook is still behind Google and Youtube but nothing guarantees that this will continue in the future. With 600 million users claimed, Facebook is the third most populous country if it were a state, behind China and India. If one goes down in hex, the numbers are still crazy: Facebookiens 20 million in France, one third of the population.

Twitter has the reputation for its great progress. According to the FIFG, the platform has increased from 63% to 80% in one year and the 100 million users worldwide was reached in 2010.

What is the profile of users of Facebook, Twitter and Social Media?

There are still a few years, young people overwhelmingly dominated the demographics of users of social networks. Social media are now recognized as a mass phenomenon. Facebook has penetrated so intergenerational families. At a time when we speak, the age group that is spreading the fastest are those over 50 years! Young people have evangelized everyone around them. It should also be noted that the power of word of mouth that give the new media is the source of the growth rate at two digits of social networks.

It should be noted that Twitter has not blown up the pyramid ...

What are the consequences of this revolution for businesses and brands?

A campaign of influence can no longer ignore this new territory. This explains the large number of companies that integrate the social network in their strategy but also B2B B2C ... The opportunity is there to have a leverage effect on investment.

But beyond the marketing, expansion of digital creates organizational change. The concept of "2.0" has also declined across the entire enterprise: it's not for nothing that we now speak of "HR 2.0, Social CRM, Collaboration 2.0, etc.. This aspect shows that it is most crucial: we're talking about pure strategy. It is important to analyze what can be done. You have to understand where is at now and where you want to be tomorrow.

With IDAOS, you are helping companies to make their transition to digital. All sectors of activity are they involved in this development?

Which sectors and which would escape? Specifically, our clients come from both the luxury industry. Everyone is "digitized" in the sense that as I said, we are dealing with a mass phenomenon. On Facebook you can also find target and fly fishermen as Apple fans or Mercedes ... Whatever you have to sell, your market is represented and identifiable on the social web! Today we begin to take really aware that this is also true for B2B ... Nobody is spared, and even Boeing has a community on Facebook!

Are there any success stories of today's companies, brands that have successfully integrated the Social Web into their strategy?

More and more. Take Procter & Gamble ... This giant marketers turned early to the web and its potential. For example, the campaign for Old Spice Youtube has generated almost 200 million video views! The impact on sales would have resulted in a 100% growth in the months following the campaign ... In 2011 Procter & Gamble has even decided to strengthen its investments in digital media to the detriment of traditional ...

In France, Idaos Z brings the Dog, the mascot of the iconic title Telez on the web with the goal of rejuvenating the target of the magazine. Our first operation was a Facebook community of more than 6,000 fans in two months, the second volume on the TV news segment, and this is backed by an editorial policy and a very rich community management around the values ​​and the humor of the character.

Conversely, examples of society who have failed in their digital strategies and their willingness to integrate the Social Web?

Oh it's name-dropping a little more sensitive you are asking me! Many people cite the bad buzz that Nestle had on her Facebook page for KitKat. A traditional crisis management to contain attacks by censoring the problem was amplified dramatically. Today, however, Nestlé has learned from this story. In this story, teaching major is not as Nestlé's attack Greenpeace mounted a massive campaign using real and very relevant els social media.

One may also ask questions about problems that Gap had when they decided to change the logo. The new video was posted on the Facebook page. Sharp criticism ensued on the new aesthetic of Gap ... backtrack and return to the old logo! Gap would have accepted the criticism and drawn appropriate conclusions. It's true ... to some extent! We can also say it is a failure: a re-branding creates enormous financial costs that comments have annihilated Facebook ... Had not they underestimated the impact of communalism and the power of consum'actors? I am of course no easy answers to everything. But in 2011, it is my opinion on what type of questions that are the real issues!

Are there best practices? In other words, what are the keys to success for businesses, for brands?

This question arises from what I told you: you have to ask the right questions. First know where we stand and then, what is desired. It was following this strategic questioning the need to question the use of tools. My best practice would be not to give in to the gadget and thought to prefer a strategy on which then ensures optimal performance!

You run as The Digital Academy, a training institute to digital and social media. Where are you in almost 2 years of existence?

A little over 18 months after its inception, the Digital Academy stands out as a major player in the field of digital training. Having signed clients such as the world's leading beauty demonstrates our expertise in both digital expertise but also in terms of pedagogy.

The Digital Academy is the party needs of our clients who wanted to assemble their teams expertise in all areas of the web and ensuring strong skills transfer. Enable companies to acquire their autonomy is a key issue: the digital is not fully integrated if knowledge was not passed.

Organizationally, the Digital Academy was built around recognized personalities, each specialized in a particular field, so it's a great tool. Organizations can easily access the knowledge to deploy and implement their digital ambitions.

Again, the web is a very broad field that changes very quickly. It is within this context that has positioned the Digital Academy: offer access to skills that are sharp and trendy!

Thank you Frank, and good luck!