$507,000                         median price
$1,995,000                      high price
$79,000                           low price
2902                               average size
$221                               ave, price/foot
246                                 average dom
$795,000                         ave. start price
$648,000                         average current ask price 

A short sale is a sale price below the mortgage balance outstanding.  Currently the MLS in the Bedford New York area report the following number of short sales.

 

Armonk                            5

Bedford                            3

Bedford Hills                     1

Chappaqua                      1

Cross River                      1

Katonah                            2

Mt Kisco                            5

North Salem                      5

Pound Ridge                     4

South Salem                      6

Waccabuc                         1

Spain’s recession will last for two years, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Reviewing its forecasts for the global economy, the IMF revised its predicted international growth down to 3.5 per cent, while Latin America’s forecast fell to 3.4 per cent. But amid the eurozone turmoil, Spain is as much a cause for concern after the country’s economy fell back by 1.5 per cent rather than the expected 1.8 per cent.

“In the past three months, the global recovery, which in any case was not very pronounced, has shown new signs of weakness,” said the IMF.

Spain is now expected to remain in recession until 2013, although even then Spain’s GDP will shrink by 0.6 per cent across the year.

Social media is emerging from its adolescent phase and is rapidly maturing.

Initially social networks had an image problem with some CEO’s and executives thinking Facebook was for teenagers to post the weekend’s party photos and Twitter was for narcisstic attention seekers with a limited vocabulary.

There was also an initial perception that because the platforms were free to use that participating was cheap and easy. Experience has shown otherwise.

Social media, blogging and digital content creation are resource intensive and doing it right takes time and money.

Tools and time saving apps are emerging to help companies to be more efficient and able to manage, control and  monitor social media. These functions and features are also being integrated into Enterprise class software solutions.

Social media has grown up and is now accepted as mainstream by companies including the Fortune Global 100. These companies include Ford, Walmart and BP.

Facebook , Twitter, Google+, YouTube and the fast emerging Pinterest have all been embraced by the top companies as they find ways to leverage their brands globally.

Burson-Marsteller first launched a study in 2010 that looked closely at how companies were adapting to this new media. Here are their 2012 findings

5 Insights into Global Social Media

In 2010 the Fortune 100 were participating on social media but not to the extent they are now. The social networks were used for broadcasting but there was limited engagement. In 2012 they are having constant conversations with their customers and followers and creating vast amounts of  digital content.

What are the top 5 findings from their latest research?

1. Twitter is more than 50% of the Conversations

Corporations, Brands and organisations have realized that  social media spreads stories in real time and at high velocity. In 2012 the Fortune Global 100 are mentioned 10.4 million times per month with Twitter transmitting 5.6 million of those conversations. This represents a growth in Twitter conversations of over 700% in just 2 years.

Gone are the days when PR companies were clipping media mentions from newspapers and magazines and posting them to the corporation via snail mail.

2.  YouTube is a Serious Media Channel

In just one year YouTube use has increased by 39 percent. It is no longer considered a channel for just entertainment but also education and positioning and branding. Corporate YouTube channels are averaging over 2 million views. This growth in conversations and views by customers is making it compulsory for companies to participate on social networks.  The social networks are proving to be a great source of free media attention that is not paid but earned.

3. Engagement is the Norm

Organisations are not just broadcasting but engaging with their customers and prospects. On Twitter 79 percent of companies are engaging via retweeting and @mentions. On Facebook 70 percent of brands are are responding to comments on their walls and timelines.

4. Multiple Accounts are Common

The average number of multiple social media accounts has soared since 2010. The number of average Twitter accounts is now over ten (up from four since 2010)  and over 8 YouTube channels (up from 1.6 in 2010). This is because companies have realized that they need to target audiences by geography, topic and service. The larger organisations now have both the tools and the resources allocated.

5. Companies are Rapidly Adapting to New Platforms

In the last twelve months Google+ and Pinterest have entered the social networking ecosystem. Companies have quickly embraced these channels with  nearly 50 perecent of the Fortune Global 100 on Google+ brand pages and 25 percent on Pinterest.

Most companies have a presence on several social media sites these days, and managing all of those accounts can be difficult, especially if you follow a lot of people, or have busy fan pages and groups to look after.  The following tools will make looking after your social media profiles a lot easier.

1. Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is one of the most well-known Twitter management tools.  It supports multiple accounts, and is available for almost every platform, including mobile devices.  Tweetdeck started life as an independent software project, but it was bought by Twitter in 2011, making it, in a way, the “industry standard” Twitter client.

 

2. Seesmic

Seesmic is perhaps Tweetdeck’s closes rival for the Desktop client crown.  What makes Seesmic so popular with social media agency workers is the wealth of plugins that it supports.  If you want flexibility and the power to search and aggregate a huge amount of information (including points such as Klout score, followers, and retweet count available at a glance), Seesmic is a good option. You can save your Seesmic profile and use it on any device, without needing to go through the hassle of re-setting up your accounts on each device.

3. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a web-based application that makes it easy for you to manage your social media profiles as part of a team.  Hootsuite serves as a social media dashboard that makes it easy to track brand mentions, schedule messages, and manage multiple social media profiles all in one place.  You can give your social media agency access to your Hootsuite account, and easily see what they’re doing without having to log in and out of lots of different profiles. Some of Hootsuite’s more advanced features cost money, but they’re worth the investment if you’re serious about social media.

4. Ifttt (If This, Then That)

Ifttt, pronounced “Ift”, stands for If This, then That.  This social media tool is designed to automate various tasks – for example, IF you take a photo and post it with Instagram, THEN this tool will download that photo and save it to your Dropbox folder, ensuring that you always have backups of important pictures.  You can set up Ifttt to link and automate all of the major social networks, saving you a lot of time and stress.

5. Dlvr.it

Dlvr.it is a free service that makes it easy for you to automate the posting of messages to social media services.  You can use it to link RSS feeds to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other services.  You can set up Dlvr.it to use any URL shortening service as long as it has a published API, and you can add hashtags, control the frequency of posting, and set a range of other options.  Dlvr.it will send you regular reports about the activity of the feeds you have set up.

Hootsuite has its own service for scheduling posts, but if you’re hitting the limit of the number of services that you can add to Hootsuite, then using Dlvr.it is a good option – it’s free, and has proven reliable so far.

After a brief respite from triple digit temperatures up here in Milwaukee, they’ve returned. Blah! So what better reason to stay inside and watch online video or read about what’s gone on in the industry this week, right? Well here’s a quick look at some notable headlines in the industry this week.

LiveRail Releases 4.7.1

LiveRail announced the new 4.7.1 platform release this week and it includes:

Exchange Buying Platform (EBP) Redesign – LiveRail’s EBP features an updated look and feel, improved performance, and workflow enhancements. These improvements make estimating and buying inventory from third-party exchanges, Private Exchanges and LiveRail Central an easy and more efficient process.

Production and Staging Environments – Introduced in 4.7.1 is the new default Staging status for Order Lines. Staging is for Order Lines that are not yet ready for delivery. This new default ensures that unintended delivery does not occur.

Third-Party Integrations -In line with LiveRail’s Brand Safety Alliance, additional integrations are provided in the LiveRail Ad Server, including one click server side blocking with Proximic and audience targeting with BlueKai segments.

Larry King Returns, on Hulu

Larry King is taking back his microphone in “Larry King Now” on Hulu and Hulu Plus.

The show will feature Larry King’s trademark in-depth conversations with the world’s most fascinating voices in entertainment and politics. Today’s premiere episode features comedic powerhouse Seth MacFarlane (“Ted”, “Family Guy”). This week’s guests also include Meghan McCain and Matthew McConaughey (“Magic Mike,” “Killer Joe”).

New episodes of “Larry King Now” can be seen every Monday through Thursday in the early evenings at:www.hulu.com/larrykingnow.

Roku Updates to Roku 2, Roku LT and new Roku HD

Improvements for Roku users in Roku software version 4.8 include:

• Improved video playback for an overall better viewing experience, including significant playback improvements to the MLB.TV and GBTV channels
• General performance optimizations to make Roku 2 and Roku LT players more responsive in certain situations
• Expanded language support, adding Spanish and German to the user interface (To change your language, just go to Settings from the Roku home screen.)
• Under the hood preparations for some great upcoming channels and features – stay tuned for an upgrade to the Roku iPhone and Android apps!

Improvements for Roku Developers:

• Support for PlayReady 2.0
• High-performance JSON parsing in BrightScript
• Extended List screen and Roku 2D API features
• Increased theme attribute support on many screen templates

The 4.8 software update will be pushed automatically to all Roku 2 and Roku LT players over the next 48 hours and will begin rolling out to new Roku HD players early next week. If you just can’t wait, select Settings > Software update > Check now on your Roku player to update manually.

 Viacom Deals with DirecTV – Users Get Digital Rights

As I said in my article on the matter, this could be good for online video viewers. It looks like the deal didn’t cover all of the Viacom channels, just 17 of them.

DIRECTV has reached a new long-term agreement with Viacom to restore 17 channels (including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, Spike, CMT, TV Land and ten other channels) that Viacom had taken away from DIRECTV customers on July 10. Viacom has returned all affected networks.

In addition to the channels’ return, DIRECTV customers will also gain the ability to see Viacom programming on tablets, laptops, handhelds and other personal devices via the DIRECTV Everywhere platform. Carriage of the EPIX movie channel is not required as part of the new agreement.

Of course, for that added online access, you’ll need to be a subscriber to DirecTV. The interesting thing was the backlash against DirecTV which included Time Warner Cable, Cox and the American Cable Association who all stood against the blackout.

 Amazon On Prime Instant Video Nabs Warner Bros TV Content

From Press Release:

Both Fringe and The West Wing will be available exclusively on Prime Instant Video for the summer, giving Prime members and Kindle Fire customers exclusive access to favorite titles that have been previously unavailable. Prime Instant Video includes more than 18,000 movies and TV episodes available for Prime members to instantly stream and enjoy at no additional cost.

That’s some big name TV content right there. Of course, Warner has been dealing out TV content just about everywhere.

Netflix, YouTube Top Smart TV Apps

Harris Interactive did a study, Home Media Magazine wrote it up (but didn’t link to Harris, for shame!), so I’ll link to Harris for them. Here’s the interesting bit:

Streaming video apps are the most popular apps for both Smart TV owners and consumers who don’t yet have a Smart TV. Three of the top five “must have” apps are Netflix (Owners 47%/Non-owners 34%), YouTube (Owners 44% / Non-owners 31%) and Amazon Instant Video (Owners 34%/Non-owners 23%). Social media giant Facebook (Owners 35%/Non-owners 29%) and online radio leader Pandora (Owners 28%/Non-owners 18%) round out the top five.

Younger adults (those 18-35) chose YouTube (Owners 57%) as their top “must have” app over the more traditional experience offered by Netflix (Owners 54%) and Amazon Instant Video (Owners 38%).

Wow, no Hulu in the top 5. My sister said something funny at my mother’s birthday party “we got a new TV and then later found out it had Netflix and stuff on it.” So, as a model for regular consumers, they didn’t even know that their TV was “smart” heh. Oh the rest of the app list pertaining to video? ESPN (6th), Hulu (7th), Twitter (8th – ok not video really), SyFy (9th), HBO Go (10th), MLB.com (12th), Vudu (13th), Cinema Now (14th – misspelled in their report), Vimeo (15th – Well done!)

Source: Harris Interactive (add me to your distro list for this sort of news!)

Microsoft Posts a Loss, First Ever Since Going Public Ouch!

It comes from their purchasing, of all things, an online ad business, according to the New York Times. Windows sales certainly weren’t helping:

But while that loss [accounting charge from purchase] can be played down as an anomaly for a company that has been a reliable moneymaker for decades, weak sales in Microsoft’s Windows business cannot. Microsoft said on Thursday that its revenue from Windows fell 13 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30.

Windows sales looked worse than they really were in part because Microsoft had to change how it recognized that revenue because of an offer it has extended to people who buy PCs running Windows 7. Under that offer, users can pay $14.99 to upgrade to Windows 8 when it comes out in October.

As Microsoft goes so does the tech industry? Maybe that’s why they’re rushing out Windows 8 with a nice consumer-friendly price tag?

Source: New York Times

Daily Motion Relaunches DM Cloud Video Platform

Daily Motion soft launched DM Cloud early this year. Now they’ve done some fixing and some expanding and are ready to do a whole new re-launch with new features and new improved performance. I sat and chatted with them about it and I’ll write an updated overview next week. For now, you’ll have to deal with this blurb.

Daily Motion Cloud Features:

• Includes DRM: Support for Adobe Flash Access and Microsoft Playready for customers who need to strongly secure their video content.
• Syndication ability between Dailymotion Cloud and a Dailymotion.com user Channel.
• One, Multiple, or all videos can be streamed on the Dailymotion.com channel from a Dailymotion Cloud Account
  • The syndication embeds the title, the description, and some metadata of the videos.
• Supports HTML5
• Can be live streamed for desktop and iOS
• There is no distinction between live stream and on demand videos – the user can leverage their customized player, get the viewership statistics, edit the renditions, apply metadata, and more.
• Enables monetization of videos – Dailymotion cloud supports in-stream ad videos directly from the Dailymotion Cloud back end.
  • Monetization strategy can be applied to one, multiple, or all videos.
• Very aggressive pricing model that is the most affordable of any major cloud video solution provider
• No Commitment – no contracts, pay by usage volume
• All Inclusive package – Every feature of the Dailymotion Cloud platform is available through one unique pricing model
  • No need to pay more for additional features.

Over the last few years, social media has reached its noodly tentacles into the business world and taken hold. It’s moved so fast, in fact, that those within the business world have had difficulty grasping what social media is and why it’s such a phenomenon, all while attempting to find a proper perspective on what social media means to them as business leaders.

So, let’s take a step back. It’s easy to get lost in the minutiae. Fundamentally, social media has altered the relationship between customers and the merchants who serve them. With this in mind, and in order to fully grasp the nebulous object that is social media, we must jump into the Way-Back machine. Follow us, if you will, to the pre-Industrial Revolution era.

Consumer Behavior in Pre-Industrial Revolution Times

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the average size of a village ranged between 50 and 300 people. When customers purchased items, they knew exactly who they were buying from. The relationship, for obvious reasons, was deeply rooted.

Given this truth, we can look at five essential qualities for business success in this era:

1) Because the village was so small, merchants had to be actively involved in the community.

2) Merchants had to provide an excellent service or product. Within the village, word-of-mouth would quickly destroy anything sub-par.

3) The product or service had to have fair pricing. You couldn’t swindle your neighbor without expecting a backlash.

4) Amazing customer service was a must. A company could not afford negative word of mouth; it would destroy not only their company, but their legacy.

5) Businesses that followed the above four principals would not only be successful, but their knowledge and skill sets that made them successful would also be passed down from generation to generation.

All information around a single village flowed freely. It’s a simple equation; if someone bought a shirt from a seamstress that lacked any of the above qualities and told someone about it, pretty soon that seamstress would be out of business. Each business was held extremely accountable for the way they ran their trade.

Business Communication in the Industrial Revolution

Then, the Industrial Revolution happened. Cities popped up. Large manufacturing companies came into power. The world became a melting pot. What happened?

Well, a number of things. For our purposes, we know one thing: the small village scenario became more and more rare. In diverse cities where enclaves developed, people chose which merchants to patronize based on nationality, race, and creed. Merchants were no longer required to put out amazing products that were fully and publicly scrutinized.

When it came to large companies and mass production of goods, word-of-mouth all but disappeared. One-way messaging became the force de rigueur, whether it was the town crier newspaper or, eventually, radio, television, or the Internet. Word-of-mouth still existed, but it could only go so far. Large companies could simply exponentially touch more people through advertising than a single person could with a complaint, suggestion, or an insight.

The power of diversion is a strong one. Faults within an industry could be wiped away without a backlash. The small village was no more. The common man or woman lost the ability to influence their peers.

Social Media Is Bringing Us Back to Pre-Revolution Communications and Marketing

With the advent of the Internet, message boards, and, now, social media, what we’re seeing again is that consumers are building relationships. However, these value sets are no longer based on the need for survival the way they were in the village.

No, this time they exist as a resource for trusted information. Who in your social group has the best taste in music? Who knows the healthiest, most affordable recipes for your family? As a society, we’ve started to reconvene in the small villages of yesteryear.

We’re sharing information. The average Facebook user today “Likes” 130 friends and 80 businesses. That’s smack dab in the middle of that number (50 to 300 people per village) we previously discussed.

As consumers, we’re once again building these relationships and merchants are being held accountable for their wares. This truly is the magic of social media. Businesses and governments need to realize that there’s powerful, useful conversation going on within their consumer base. They just need to be part of this conversation and resign themselves to one simple fact: from here on out, they will be held accountable.

It’s no longer good enough for companies to simply launch a new marketing idea. One-way messaging and glitzy marketing programs won’t single-handedly create more consumerism. At the end of the day, businesses have to be relevant in their communities, listen to the conversations, and adhere to those five principles. That’s how you win these days. There are no shortcuts.