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Google Joins HootSuite and Adobe in Attempting to Quantify Social Media ROI

Google has launched new social reports that aim to quantify the return of investment of social media. Phil Mui, Google Analytics group product manager, says that Google wants to "tie social activities and referrals to measurable, meaningful economic value so businesses can more effectively evaluate which social channels are impacting their bottom line, and which tactics will lead to measurable economic value."

But Google isn't the only one attempting this. Vancouver startup HootSuite partnered with Adobe recently in an effort to accomplish the same goal.

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Scene Adds Social and Gamification Features to Movie Experience

Scene is bring a gamification dynamic to its online social efforts. The Canadian movie rewards program, which has 3.5 million members, has launched the Trivia Stars Facebook game.

The game has users—including non-members—put their movie knowledge to the test with 10 questions across multiple genres. The game offers the chance to earn Scene points, which can be cashed in for free movie tickets, popcorn, DVDs, and even gift cards to Milestones.

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Will Adobe Social Blow Hootsuite Out of the Water? Yes… and No

Most social media management platforms like Pinerly or CoTweet focus on the management of a single social media platform. But Adobe Social, part of the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite, will allow you to manage multiple social media platforms and do so much more.

Vancouver-based HootSuite, a social media dashboard, hasn't been shy to include Adobe in their efforts. They've entered in a partnership to help quantify social media ROI.

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The Coworking Space Ship Tour Lands in Toronto and Vancouver as Coworking Phenomenon Spreads

A space ship is landing in Canada.

The Coworking Space Ship Tour, organized by Deskwanted, Deskmag, and Coworking Toronto, is a one-evening event happening next Tuesday, March 27, from 7pm to 10pm. The Space Ship will feature talks from experts on the global collaborative work scene, as well as a focused discussion on developments within Toronto. A Vancouver edition happens the following day.

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Starting a Digital Media or Gaming Company? Work and Collaborate in George Brown College's Incubator

Toronto's George Brown College launched their Digital Media and Gaming Incubator last summer, and they are now currently accepting applications for their office and hot desk spaces. The incubator offers nine individual private office spaces to small and emerging companies and there are nineteen hot desks available for freelancers and sole propietors. 

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Adobe: A Big Data Bandwagoner Jumping into Predictive Analytics Modelling

The big data bandwagon is a popular one to jump on these days. Recently, big data's lure swallowed former editors Marshall Kirkpatrick at Read Write Web and Ben Parr of Mashable, who are attempting to visualize big data in various formats.

A Canadian company called Recoset creates sophisticated, predictive, and machine-learning applications. Techvibes editor Knowlton Thomas even proclaimed that Twitter has changed Canadian politics forever due to its real-time nature in predicting elections.

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Less Than One-Third of Canadian Businesses Use Social Media, BMO Discovers

Less than one-third of Canadian small business owners are using social media, a new BMO Bank of Montreal survey reveals. And this comes despite the fact that half of Canadian business believe social media can increase profitability—not to mention it's free, when cost is often the only obstacle for a small business trying something new.

29% of Canadian small businesses don't believe that social media is a valuable tool, the survey found. 19% haven't tried because they lack knowledge.

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Startup Canada Tour Kicks off in Halifax

l to r: Tanya Shaw, Andrew Doyle, Rustum Southwell, Adam Chowaniec, and Thomas Hayes

Startup Canada, an organization dedicated to helping and promoting entrepreneurship across Canada, officially kicked off their national tour in Halifax on Monday. Over the next six months, the tour will stop for 30 town hall events across Canada.

To give you a scale as to exactly how large the tour will be, there are 100 fringe events planned in coordination with the town hall stops, 180 people make up 12 steering committees to plan and execute the events, and there are over 250 volunteers helping to make it a reality.

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Rogers Social Media Campaign Backfires, Consumers Take to Twitter to Diss Telco [Updated]

UPDATE: Rogers has changed its promoted tweet in response to the negative backlash from consumers:

We’re on Twitter to listen & help. We’re hearing you loud & clear today. You can reach us @RogersHelps #Rogers1Number

ORIGINAL: Rogers Communications is experiencing what McDonalds did in January - a major social media backlash.

The Toronto telecommunications company attempted to promote its new Rogers One Number service through a promoted tweet: "With #Rogers1Number, 1 is the only number you’ll need! Register for this new free service." But consumers took the hashtag in another direction.

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