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The State and Future of Twitter 2010: Part Three

cgseo — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:50:01 +0000

In Part Two of The State and Future of Twitter, we reviewed Promoted Tweets and the new advertising platform and metric system that will test and hopefully strengthen the “interest graph” that connects individuals around relevant subject matter and eventually the ads that they might find relevant. In Part Three, we are going to review the news and ideas that erupted during the Chirp conference as well as the new features that position Twitter as “consumption media” and how it will earn new users and simultaneously increase the activity and contributions of everyone. Twitter COO Dick Costolo defined Twitter as a consumption medium, “Millions of people might read tweets either on the site, through clients or through widgets on external sites, but they might not author tweets.” If Twitter adheres to the Technographics or Socialgraphics analysis of Social Media, Costolo is not only correct, but also vocalizing what many researchers are leaning about social media: even though it provides a democratized platform for participation, most registered users of social networks read updates and content instead of updating or posting content. Therefore, one could deduce that social media is, for the time being, in a state of mass consumption and not mass creation. Along those lines, two major announcements hit the Web during the Chirp conference related to mass content consumption. The Library of Congress As Twitter so cleverly titled its blog post, “ Tweet Preservation ,” it was announced that The Library of Congress deemed that the history of public tweets is worthy of preservation. There, the repository of conversations that defined a new medium, going back to the very first Tweet, will now reside at The Library of Congress. To date, billions of Tweets have contributed to the evolution of online societies and the digital cultures that would inevitably impact our culture in the real world. From global celebrations to controversial elections to natural and heart-stopping catastrophes to local events and personal achievements, the archive of Tweets indeed represents a generation fueled by the “me” in social media. And, with every Tweet and ReTweet, human communications, the way we form relationships, and media itself was and continues to be redefined. Twitter has evolved into a lens into popular culture that not only reflects behavior, but also influences it. As part of the contribution, The Library of Congress can only include Tweets in its internal library for non-commercial research, public display, and for preservation, after a six-month delay. A few examples of important tweets that are now on display include the first-ever tweet from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey ( http://twitter.com/jack/status/20 ), President Obama’s tweet about winning the 2008 election ( http://twitter.com/barackobama/status/992176676 ), and a set of two tweets from a photojournalist who was arrested in Egypt and then freed because of a series of events set into motion by his use of Twitter ( http://twitter.com/jamesbuck/status/786571964 ) and ( http://twitter.com/jamesbuck/status/787167620 ). Google Replay Google paid to receive the full real-time Twitter firehose in December 2009 and since then it has expanded the feed to 40 languages and introduced a top links feature to help users find the most relevant content shared. In conjunction with the announcement by The Library of Congress, Google announced Replay , a new feature that combines the public archive of Tweets with an interactive timeline that unlocks the history of conversations to revisit any point in time to discover, study, or reminisce. Now you can zoom to any point in time and “replay” conversations that reflected sentiment and the state of conversation, steering perception with every Tweet. To replay history, run a search, click “Show options” on the search results page, then select “Updates.” The first page reveals the most recent Tweets combined with a new chart at the top. The chart, in a sense, is a virtual time machine that allows you to specify the year, month or day, to view the tweets from any given point in time. Twitter Search Data already shows that searches within Social Networks are already rivaling traditional search engines in certain cases, with some major online destinations already reporting a majority of referral traffic stemming from social media over the biggest search engines. At Chirp, Twitter reported that it fields roughly 19 billion search per month. Twitter co-founder Evan Williams also disclosed that Twitter performs 600 million queries per day, many of which are individuals searching for conversations containing their @ name I’m sure. However, neither number is easy to disregard. Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, dug a bit deeper to place these numbers into perspective to compare Twitter search to other traditional and social search activity. Using comScore numbers published in January 2010, Sullivan created a baseline using Twitter’s reported numbers: Google: 88 billion per month Twitter: 19 billion per month Yahoo: 9.4 billion per month Bing: 4.1 billion per month We were initially surprised when YouTube consistently ranked behind Google, but ahead of all other search engine engines for total search queries performed each month. Looking at the numbers above, YouTube contributes to Google’s 88 billion total. But, according to Sullivan’s math, for total searches run on search properties, Twitter would technically rank ahead of Yahoo and behind Google. Sullivan explains his caveats… Now for the caveats. For one, we’re comparing Twitter’s self-reported figures to comScore’s estimated figures. To date, comScore hasn’t reported Twitter figures. Twitter doesn’t even register on the radar screen. This is most likely because of the second caveat. Most of Twitter’s traffic isn’t happening at Twitter itself. Instead, it’s happening through API calls — a system for partners to send a search to Twitter and get the info back. Ratings services like comScore typically don’t include such queries, instead focusing on traffic they can monitor happening at specific web sites. As Twitter continues to grow, so do its search numbers. During Chirp, Sullivan spoke with Twitter’s director of search Doug Cook. According to Cook, Twitter’s daily search queries have reached highs of 750 million and as he told Sullivan, Cook expects Twitter to channel 1 billion searches as soon as May 2010. @Anywhere As we discussed extensively over the years, one of the biggest hurdles contributing to troubling user acquisition and retention was the experience from the point of introduction, “follow us on Twitter” or the recommendation to do so and every click that forced users to manually visit Twitter, create accounts, and then somehow miraculously induce an epiphany about how to use Twitter as an everyday communication and discovery service. To hopefully contribute to a more meaningful experience at inception, Twitter introduced @anywhere , which to quote Twitter, quoting Foursquare, makes Twitter “aggressively simple.” @anywhere is a service designed to enable partner websites to easily integrate Twitter functionality into the site experience. Twitter’s idea or better said, hope, is that visitors to partner sites can then engage with existing Twitter features as well as hosted Twitter personalities, without having to leave. Among the most cooperative examples for the @anywhere platform are of course, traditional media properties. In many ways, big media brands such as CNN, New York Times, MSNBC, et al, are finding their stories permeating the streams of Twitter users all over the world. Instead of indirectly benefiting from this activity, why not harness and thus, inspire it…direct, at the source. News no longer breaks, it Tweets , and as Chloe Sladden, director of media partnerships at Twitter shared on stage, “@Anywhere is a way to shift a page view into a relationship.” @Anywhere is a customizable platform (a few lines of JavaScript) that comes to life at the host site. In many ways, this is Twitter’s official answer to Facebook Connect, empowering visitors to engage with content at a host site, while simultaneously building a bridge between a user’s online activity and their respective social graph – triggering a social effect that ideally creates traffic between all affected properties. The loved (if you’re on it) and hated recommended user list that greeted new Twitter users is on the way out in favor of an experience driven model, now placed squarely in the hands of those who ask us to “follow them on Twitter.” For example, if you as a visitor decide that you’d like to follow a particular reporter based on a story, you can do so on the spot and, you can also review a list a other reporters on Twitter who might write about content that you would prefer to follow. Citysearch used @anywhere to help users get a complete real-time snapshot of a merchant and, when they’d like, engage that merchant via Twitter directly from CitySearch.com. The Guardian uses @anywhere to connect readers with those running for public office. According to the UK publication, “Now, from within our pages you can ask questions your prospective parliamentary candidates and of our journalists. This is a clear indication of how we’re trying to lower barriers between our audience and those who hold power or seek to hold office, and between our readers and our journalists.” The full list of sites using @anywhere include AdAge, Amazon, Bing, Citysearch, Digg, Disqus, eBay, Foursquare, Gawker, Google, Gowalla, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Hunch, Mashable, Meebo, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, Salesforce.com, WSJ.com, Yahoo!, and YouTube. Annotated Tweets Ryan Sarver, Director of Platform of Twitter, announced that it now boasts over 100,000 registered apps…all the more reason for a service such as OneForty.com to help you. Note, I’m an advisor to the company, but the reason I’ve joined, is because of this information. With so many apps, we essentially need an app store for Twitter. As 75% of Twitter’s traffic sources from external apps, Sarver expressed his gratitude and devotion. “Twitter is the way it is because of the ecosystem,” said Sarver. “There is no way we can be successful without you guys.” Yes. The developer community did much more than “fill the holes,” the developer community stitched personal relevance and ambition into an otherwise ambiguous network. It is us who attracted mainstream attention. It is us who lured brands into the community. It is, in fact us, the users, who adopted these applications to help us use Twitter to learn, share, connect, and grow. At Chirp, Twitter introduced what Robert Scoble might refer to as the “ Super Tweet .” However, its name is a little less super, but these Tweets are rich with information. Annotated Tweets, for developers, was perhaps the uppermost news to receive stage time. Many refer to Annotated Tweets as “invisible hashtags,” but even that reference might not convey the capacity and potentiality of what it represents. When Chris Messina introduced the concept of hashtags, they were indeed, designed to integrate contextual references to each Tweet as well as for organizing and locating conversations as needed. However, Annotated Tweets, when they do officially launch within 60 days or so, will enable the incorporation of data behind data (metadata), beyond what’s already captured. This new Tweet framework will package and reveal the specific information that creative developers designate. Twitter is a Global Phenomenon Finally, I will share a bit of information that hit the Web one week prior to Chirp. I share this with you because I believe that Twitter and social networks overall, represent the bridges that make the world a much smaller place. When we think back to the contextual networks or interest graphs discussed in the earlier segments of this discussion, geography slowly dissipates. We are connected by the very things that captivate and inspire us and when we peer into a monitor we are essentially gazing into a window that looks upon a landscape populated by those we choose to follow and those who choose to follow us. We form a new information democracy that is representative of the stake in which we invest and nurture. Twitter documented its growth as a “global information network” with a user base that’s geographically diverse. In fact, 60% of registered Twitter accounts live outside the United States. Certainly, it’s a small world after all… Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my new book , Engage ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism:

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The State and Future of Twitter 2010: Part Three

The State and Future of Twitter 2010: Part One

cgseo — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:22:20 +0000

The State and Future of Twitter was revealed to the world at the Chirp Conference. Developers, futurists, reporters, investors, stakeholders, and businesses convened at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, making the journey from all over the world to witness history in the making. My experience at Chirp was in a word, profound. I sit here, right here, right now, attempting to distill all that I heard and learned and its true effect on the general public. The volume of ideas and insight is implausible to capture, analyze, and share in one post. Hence, what follows is Part One of The State and Future of Twitter, beginning with an answer to the question that Twitter never asked of us, “ What moves you ?” While some of what you’ll read addresses the initial question, “ what are you doing ” and also the current question, “ what’s happening ?” Prior to the opening of the show, tensions arose between Twitter and the developer community following the news of Twitter’s acquisition of Tweetie to become the official iPhone app for the company. Suddenly developers felt abandoned or threatened by an ominous competitor, Twitter itself. On the eve of the conference, Twitter was faced with one additional objective for its monumental event. In addition to illustrating its future, Twitter now desperately needed to win back the support and dedication of its developer community. “Twitter has always been about developers,” asserted Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. Williams continued, “Twitter is the ecosystem much more than any other Web service that exists. You guys have not only made Twitter better, you’ve helped shape it, you’ve helped define what it is for us and millions of users.” In truth, the stories and events that played out paint a brighter future for all involved, including consumers. What was clear, however, is that the days of straightforward and spiritless applications would no longer command the value and attention they once boasted. It was clear that Twitter is rapidly emerging as a sophisticated social operating system (OS) and its prospective is governed by the applications and the users who adopt them. Follow Me on Twitter! Since 2006, I’ve explored the promise and impact of Twitter on media, marketing and popular culture. At times I’ve openly questioned decisions or the lack thereof to diagnose complications with Twitter’s market position as compared to its promise. Reality eventually proved blinding. Consumers were and are unabashedly exposed to Twitter at almost unprecedented and incalculable conditions. Follow us on Twitter …it’s suddenly everywhere. Whether you’re watching the evening news, your favorite program or the commercials that support them, the request is clear. However, what was unclear, especially for the everyday consumer, were the steps necessary to find meaning in the Twitter experience and direction in its personal application in a world where Facebook and other social networks offered far more definitive and self explaining advantages. As Evan Wlliams demonstrated through a live Google search, it’s clear that they’re listening. Mainstream consumers do not understand Twitter. “Getting users from awareness to engagement–this is something that we weren’t doing very well. This is a really tough problem because Twitter is different things for different people.” Indeed. Most importantly however, what it isn’t for most people, is clear in its day-to-day application and benefits for the investment one makes in learning, contributing, and overall engagement. Twitter has tried, albeit incrementally as well as restricted and perhaps without clarity, to improve the experience. In the last year, the company has… 1. Re-designed its home page twice to more effectively depict the value that lies beyond registration. 2. Created a series of guides designed to help businesses understand the potential rife within its ecosystem 3. Analyzed and published data to humanize the trends beyond the tweets 4. Continually spotlight the clever accounts finding success At 175 employees, Twitter might now finally realize the strength in its own numbers. Tweet by Numbers It would take almost four years for me to witness the day that Twitter would convincingly recognize its calling in life and as a result, take the wheel of destiny to steer a historic, yet seemingly meandering movement toward relevance and prevalence. On April 14th 2010, Twitter made history…again. The news, ideas, and conversations erupting from the conference was positively overwhelming and promising, almost as if the team at Twitter suddenly awoke in the middle of the night to seize the revelation that presented its destiny, mission, and the course towards pervasiveness. On the first day of its first official conference, Twitter intentionally positioned Chirp as its shot across the bow of skeptics and critics while simultaneously rekindling the flame of loyalists and luminaries. A community once plagued by user acquisition and retention challenges, Twitter disclosed information absent since its debut in 2006, numbers. It turns out, Twitter is much larger than many predicted. According to co-founder Biz Stone, Twitter maintains a user base of over 105 million . To be clear, registered and active users are two very different things. But even speculating at a 50% retention estimate, just over 50 million active accounts would warrant significant respect and attention. Biz also shared that Twitter.com receives over 180 million monthly unique visitors with 75% of Twitter traffic sourcing from outside applications . Currently, Twitter is adding 300,000 new users daily , experiencing 1,500% growth over last year. Twitter search is also becoming a contender in the overall market. While still far behind Google and even YouTube, Twitter is fielding over 600 million search queries with 3 billion calls to its application program interface (API) per day. Snapshot: - 105 million registered users - 180 million monthly unique visitors - 75% of traffic sourcing from outside applications - Adding 300,000 new users daily Twitter: A Cultural Catalyst Over the last few years, Twitter users publicly explored and defined the role of the fledgling platform as a technology, a communications medium, and ultimately as a catalyst for societal evolution. At a minimum, Twitter has represented a collective collaboration that manifests our ability to unconsciously connect kindred voices through the experiences that move us. While Twitter both spawned and symbolized the pulse of the real-time Web, Twitter itself emerged as a human seismograph, providing us with a window into the reverberating events, themes, and trends that captivate digital civilizations. In March 2007, Twitter tasted mainstream attention when it earned the spotlight at SXSW. In 2008, a journalist was arrested in Egypt and his Tweets that alerted followers to the event and broadcast his cry for help would ultimately serve as the key to his freedom. Just over a year ago, Ashton Kutcher challenged CNN to a Twitter race to become the first person to reach 1,000,000 followers. In June 2009, the Iran election and the following political unrest were globalized through Twitter. From its inception to its current state is entwined through countless human experiences and events ranging from earthquakes to plane crashes to triumphs, losses, and everything in between. The Twitterverse represents much more than a social network. It personified our aspirations, giving millions of people a stage for which to earn untapped recognition. Whereas YouTube inspired so many individuals willing to brave the lens of a Web cam and the resulting activities that ensured from friends and strangers online and in the real world, Twitter gifted a microphone, a stage, and a captive audience to those who could enchant our heats, minds, and attention in 140 character proclamations. Twitter did not invent social networking. Nor did it create the @ or # signs that have become pervasive not only in Twitter and other social networks, but also in real life . What Twitter did however, seems to have a much more profound effect on humanity. As a noun and a verb, Tweets unlocked and emancipated our inner extrovert and social commentator, easing our concerns over privacy and consequence, instilling confidence through our participation and contribution with followers, responses, retweets, favorites, and ultimately a network of contacts that would prove invaluable in all things we do online and offline. I’ve spent countless hours analyzing how the “me” in Social Media affects us individually. And while many have criticized blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks for fanning the flames of egotism and narcissism, I truly believe that Twitter empowered a new generation of individuals to listen, learn, and communicate with vigor, consciousness, and passion. And every time we update our status, we earn status at varying levels that reflects the caliber and breadth of our investment and intention. As such, we are encouraged and rewarded by the deliberate unfastening of”self” from self interest to play a part in producing a vibrant and enriching civilization that transcends its populace from denizens to bona fide benefactor and stakeholder. Twitter is what it is because of us. And, where it is going and its true impact will too, be defined by us, the very people who form the democracy of Twitter. As good friend and digital raconteur Stowe Boyd observed, “It is our dancing the makes the house rock, not the planks and pipes. It is us that makes Twitter alive, not the code.” Twitter has flourished into a living and breathing organism whose characteristics are dictated and personified through our Tweets and the Tweets of those we follow. Its soul however, is defined by who we are and who we want to be . Twitter is becoming a part of our society and it is changing how we form relationships and introducing new patterns of communication that link us to one other. It is no longer a question of “to Tweet or not to Tweet.” Tweets are now artifacts of our culture and as such, they symbolize a chapter in societal evolution. Next : Part Two – A review of Twitter’s new monetization strategies. Part Three – A look at the new features, technologies, and partnerships unveiled at Chirp Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Engage ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism: —

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The State and Future of Twitter 2010: Part One

Q&A: Social Media Continues to Rewrite the New Rules of Advertising and Marketing

cgseo — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:03:34 +0000

To celebrate the release of Engage ! , I was recently asked to share my thoughts on how social media impacts the advertising landscape for the current issue of Winning the Web , a popular magazine related to Web marketing. While the discussion opens with a review of the state and future of online advertising, the discussion also looks at the overall tectonic shift in new media and the profound opportunities that are unfolding. With Ad:Tech San Francisco on the horizon, the timing couldn’t be better to share the entire interview with you here. #Engage Do you feel that there is a place for online advertisers and brands within the social media landscape, or do you think most “just don’t belong” there? Online advertisers and brands indeed have a role in the social media landscape, it’s just different now. Brands, as well as the online advertisers and marketers that support them, are presented with a new opportunity to make direct connections that still yield traditional results but also set the stage for webwide advocacy and evangelism. To lure attention, the commitment changes from simply paying for visibility and investing in the story, visuals, and also offering a return for engagement, shifting from visibility to presence, which is felt. Essentially, paid media is becoming instrumental in triggering earned media in order to activate visitor experiences and activity. Do you feel social media is being well-utilized by most companies or corporate entities today? I believe that in order for companies to realize success in social media, they must become media. Many brands review case studies and plow through customer success stories as a form of inspiration for the experiments and endeavors. We assume, erroneously, that these examples apply to our business and more importantly, we presume that these examples represent success that was predefined methodically implemented. This is much more than collecting followers, fans or clickthroughs. It’s now the responsibility of the brand to program meaningful content that creates branded, yet personalized experiences to steer activity, offer guidance, provide resolution, and also spark word of mouth. Look into your crystal ball – in three years, what do you think social media will mean and/or encompass? Social Media will essentially become “Media” as we return to the ongoing evolution of new media. Social Media provided everyday users with powerful publishing platforms and the ability to establish influence, introducing production into the consumer consumption equation. It did not, however, change the need to rise above the noise by connecting people and content in order to raise awareness and cause measurable action. The road to the future begins with understanding that attention is finite and is increasingly thinning, therefore we must connect with individuals where, when, and how their attention is focused. Technology is going to help, but we must help ourselves by introducing relevance, findability, and shareability into the mix. Intelligent filtering will become part of the consumption process, empowering consumers to view the most material information based on their behavior and connections. Priority will focus on aligning, qualifying, and presenting content sourced from the social graph and varying degrees of friends of friends networks. There have been numerous stories written about companies and brands trying to monetize social media. Do you think these efforts are fruitless or do you feel social media can or should be money-making areas for advertisers? Social Media is not owned by any one department and as such, the tools and services that populate the new media landscape should be viewed as just that, tools and services. It’s not unlike email for example. Every division affected by outside activity will require an external presence to influence respective activity that positively impacts online societies. As such, monetizing social media becomes an extension of various sales strategies that present those populating a social brand graph (connections forged in social networks related to brands) with offers, specials, rewards, incentives, discounts, etc. Many consumers have shouted in recent surveys that they hope and even expect to receive exclusive opportunities to purchase products or services via social channels such as Twitter and Facebook. Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Engage ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Q&A: Social Media Continues to Rewrite the New Rules of Advertising and Marketing

Optimize Your Brand for Sharing and Social Search in 11 Steps

cgseo — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:17:44 +0000

In Part One , focused on how to make your brand findable and shareable in social media. A white paper by Gigya validates the shift to, and resulting importance of, social search and its dependence on crowd participation. Online businesses must optimize in order to earn referral traffic from social networks. With the advent of social feeds — a live stream of friends’ activity shared on social networks like Facebook and Twitter — consumers can more easily rely on trusted personal relationships to determine what’s worthwhile to read, watch, play and buy online. Honestly, there are too many top 10 lists, and I subscribe to the Spinal Tap school of numeration, so this list will go to “11!” Here are 11 steps for optimizing your brand for sharing and social search. 1. Keywords This one seems elementary and trivial for many, but it can’t go unsaid. Social media is inviting new players within marketing and communications to the table. Their absence from traditional SEO practices requires the review of all keywords that stakeholders use to find relevant information regardless of the platform or network. 2. Brands Become Media Essentially, for brands to earn the attention of desired audiences their content must be timely, relevant, irresistible, and shareable. Content production is only part of the equation. Establishing a cadence to entice people to introduce our work to their friends and followers is atypical. Begin by defining an editorial calendar to produce and distribute relevant content for each and every network with rhythm and conviction. In the era of real-time and social search, brands now become the CNN of their industry while also socializing the content and experience to broaden reach and awareness. 3. Define the Experience Modernize and socialize your site to complement the experience visitors expect in 2010. Once someone is introduced to your content and they land on your site or landing page, make sure it’s presented in a gripping format and the proper hooks are in place for easy sharing back to the attention dashboards of their social graph. Many Web sites are still stuck in the time of Web 1.0 and essentially represent a static dead end to the dynamic and interactive experiences transpiring in social networks. 4. Establish a Formidable Presence Go where your audiences are already highly active, and also where they’re experimenting. Create enticing, compelling, and personable social profiles in the networks of relevance that convey a sense of “what’s in it for me?” Establish relationships based on context and make sure those relationships are fortified through the production and distribution of value-added content, combined with the art and science of reciprocity, response, and recognition. 5. Social Media Optimization (SMO) Optimize the site and all social objects for traditional, social, and real-time search based on the keywords that are defined in step one. Invest time and resources in the eloquence of describing and defining social objects through titles, descriptions, tags (keywords), links , and active content promotion. Create content in the methods dictated by the communities you wish to reach (e.g., blog posts, tweets, videos, pictures). 6. Social Search Now that Google and other search engines are experimenting with the addition of social search into results, the fusion of sharing and social networking improves the likelihood of someone clicking through to our desired objects. Data shows that, in addition to e-mail, visitors who find content shareable choose to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and MySpace. 7. Connect with Social Influencers As attention spans continue to thin and as interesting content spins through attention dashboards at blinding speeds, brands must proactively connect relevant information to social beacons who can lend credibility and spark conversations and dialogue around the objects we introduce aligned by theme and context. 8. Employ the Human Algorithm Google is already experimenting with a human algorithm of sorts for ranking real-time search results. The stature of one’s social capital ultimately contributes to the hierarchy, placement, and findability of the content and social objects we share online. Not only do we need to connect with social influencers to help us share our story, we also must identify and connect with individuals in the public stream and and the back channel to ensure that the conversation generates ranked awareness. 9. Social Architecture: Analyze how key individuals in your markets are discovering, consuming, and sharing content today and integrate one-click social functionality across all pertinent content platforms. Also, make sure to stay on top of the most promising trends because social sharing will continue to rapidly evolve. Eradicate proprietary login systems and consider pervasive social logins, such as Facebook Connect and Twitter logins, as they’re designed to trigger social effects through reactions on the host site back to their respective social graphs. This extends the reach of content from a site that was once considered a destination to the networks of relevance in order to attract qualified visitors. 10. A Call to Action Implementing calls to action remind someone that captivating content is worthy of sharing . Integrating the tools to instantly do so is one part; reminding them to do so completes the circle. However, sharing isn’t the end game either. Inciting responses in addition to sharing, such as posts, retweets, likes, etc, create paths that define and engender the experience you desire with destinations and calls to action integrated to close the loop. Decide the activity you wish to inspire and integrate it into steps one through nine. Give them something to find and to talk about! 11. Listen and Adapt Create listening dashboards to monitor all activity including the number of shares, discoveries, click-throughs, etc., and find ways to improve the experience, as well as how to ignite a greater volume of sharing. If the socialization of content is defined by governing behavior, it is that of sharing and searching. The share economy currency is defined by likes, links, retweets, updates, comments, shares on Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, MySpace, et al. The potential and overall impact of social objects, either discovered or shared, only expands the reach of the brand as social media becomes pervasive. Providing the necessary means for individuals to not only find your content, but also actively share it across the social Web, is paramount to the survival of businesses in the era of curated search, social influence, and channeled attention. Originally posted in Search Engine Watch . Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Engage! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Optimize Your Brand for Sharing and Social Search in 11 Steps

Search and Rescue: How to Become Findable and Shareable in Social Media

cgseo — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:06:29 +0000

Search isn’t an isolated experience. The act of looking for information is now fused with validation, which means the socialization of search will unite discovery with context and relationships. It all begins with where we purposely search for relevant content and also where we respond to interesting information that crosses our path. ComScore ’s most recent search engine ranking report offers new insight that will make us rethink how we publish content, increase its findability , and facilitate sharing. In comparing February to January, Google remained on top with 65.4 percent of all core search activity. Yahoo followed with 17 percent and Microsoft ranked third with 11.3 percent. Things become interesting when we analyze search queries as opposed to core search activity. The landscape broadens beyond traditional search. Just behind Google, but ahead of Yahoo, YouTube ranks second for search inquiries overall. In 18th and 19th place, Facebook and MySpace also make appearances in the top 20 list respectively. Perhaps most intriguing is that neither Facebook nor MySpace offer true search functionality — but they still account for increasing search activity. Facebook is up 10 percent between January and February. What does this all mean? As social networks gain in prominence, the amount of relevant information within each ecosystem increases in value and, as such, we deliberately seek content within the networks in which we engage . It’s the Journey That’s Important, Not the Destination Destination sites across the board are losing traffic and ultimately favor, simply because destinations are obsolete as intended or designed. The days of the traditional “start page” are coming to an end, only to be replaced with the “ attention dashboard ” — a dedicated application that aggregates the activity of those we follow in social networks into a series of digestible streams. TweetDeck, PeopleBrowsr, Seesmic, HootSuite, Brizzly, and Facebook each represent a new generation of attention dashboards as they funnel social feeds into one clickable view. These streams look a lot like slot machines as information flies through dedicated columns, almost blurring the text beyond legibility. But this is where attention is focused and the content that appears within it represents the future of the information life cycle. So how do we compete for attention if attention itself is learning how to adapt to a new media landscape? Our job is to ensure that information travels outside of our domains and to the communities of interest in order to create a bridge back to our hub. And, content must adapt based on consumption and sharing patterns with our existing and potential stakeholders. This is an important point and one that can’t be ignored. Social activity indicates that we are already moving away from the act of proactively traveling to traditional sites as a source of new content. With the dawn of social media, the activity that brings social graphs and networks to life is quickly changing how we discover, learn and share and it is also forever reshaping the idea of online destinations as they exist today. It all comes down to attention and understanding where it’s focused and how it is tempted, lured, or distracted to click away from it. The socialization of information is changing everything. Connect with Attention Where Attention is Focused Competing for attention is paramount. We lose most of the battles before they’re begun because we’re working against years of behavior that now represent the complete opposite of tomorrow’s consumption and sharing patterns. Everything begins with identifying where attention is focused, combined with the new laws of attraction. Gigya reviewed data from Compete from November 2009 and observed that some of the top media properties were already realizing a dominant effect in traffic from social networks. For example, USAToday receives upwards of 35 percent of its referral traffic from social networks and just over 6 percent from Google. People Magazine receives 23 percent of its referrals from social networks and 11 percent from Google. And, CNN earns 11 percent of its referral traffic from social versus 9 percent from Google. Peer-to-peer activity strongly influences the resulting behavior of impressionable nodes defining social graphs, much in the same way we rely upon trusted referrals from our real life contacts. The more something appears within the attention dashboard, the more likely it is that someone will click through. In addition, the more intriguing it seems, or the stronger the reaction it engenders among peers, also increases its enchantment and thus beguiling spectators to willfully lunge towards a shared experience, most likely triggering a public response that continues the social effect . Social Architecture and Connecting the Dots Information is already socializing and changing the behavior for how people search, find, react, and curate. The difference between our present and future is defined by the roads and bridges we build between relevance and prevalence. As content producers, our responsibility is to connect information and stories to existing and potential stakeholders. It’s also essential to package and optimize our content as social objects in order for them to work for us in our absence, when individuals actively seek content through contextual searches. In part two , we’ll look at 11 steps for optimizing your brand for sharing and social search. Originally posted in Search Engine Watch . Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Enga ge ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Search and Rescue: How to Become Findable and Shareable in Social Media

Twitter Writes Its Own Success Stories

cgseo — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 11:04:05 +0000

In January 2010, nearly 75 million people visited Twitter according to comScore . While that number seems remarkable, it represents only a fraction of what’s realistically attainable. I believe that Twitter’s growth, to date, is hindered not by its ambition nor potential, but by the company’s ongoing focus on competing priorities rather than showcasing how users can effectively communicate and excel on this unique platform. But that’s all about to change… Every day, millions of potential people are introduced to Twitter through traditional media, online dialogue in other social networks, as well as the content and marketing campaigns of local, national, and global businesses and media properties. Follow us on Twitter! Join the conversation! Ok, but then what…? The problem isn’t publicity when it comes to user acquisition or retention. Twitter certainly enjoys equal if not greater billing over Facebook across the board and has become a cultural phenomenon in its own right. The challenge Twitter has and continues to face, is its ability to connect the dots and surface the elements and examples strewn across or hidden within the network to showcase why Twitter is important for a variety of mainstream, vertical, contextualized and localized user groups who represent a countless myriad of personal and professional applications. Twitter has become nothing short of a cultural catalyst that transforms how people communicate as well as how information is distributed and disseminated. Twitter as a platform has also emerged as a social OS for many of its loyal and enthusiastic users, with the Twitter stream serving as our dashboard for introducing insight, direction, and connections. If anything, the Twitterverse represents a sliver of what Tim O’Reilly envisions for the greater Internet operating system. In the middle of 2009, Twitter embarked upon two promising projects, each designed to increase user retention, simplify adoption and engagement , and unlock the imagination for sharing and learning as well as building communities, one follow and one tweet at a time. First, Twitter redesigned its home page to convey the ease and demonstrate the value of a new forum for micro communication. Second, Twitter introduced a 101 series of lessons aimed at businesses to help them embrace Twitter as a tool to establish good will with customers and prospects and also increase brand awareness and potentially demand and sales overall. On March 30th, Twitter rolled out a new home page to showcase trends and real-time search results. Twitter.com now also features the top tweets at any moment as well as friends, industry peers, celebrities, and relevant businesses to provide a sample flavor of Twitter. The willful and centralized demonstration of capabilities and potential is the key that unlocks creativity and personalization. To continue the momentum, Twitter’s Sean Garrett and Jenna Sampson created @cleveraccounts along with a companion Posterous blog to showcase the clever use of Twitter accounts across a variety of applications that illustrate possibilities and hopefully spark imagination. Twitter’s @CleverAccounts is perhaps best described by its own bio, “Follow us to learn about interesting uses of Twitter from across the world. @mention us if you have your own use case!” Of course, use cases require more than 140 characters to convey the challenge and results. The Clever Twitter Accounts blog on Posterous dives in a bit deeper with each post dedicated to a particular example of how Twitter saved the day. For example… The Michigan Department of Transportation turned to Twitter for sharing construction updates with commuters. Sears and Kmart took to Twitter to share more than 7,000 job openings. New York food trucks that use Twitter to create demand were spotlighted to share best practices. Dunkin Donuts uses Twitter to turn Tweets into sales. Charity Water shares what is learned through their work. Lance Armstrong includes his fans and supporters by actively sharing experiences and updates. The list will only continue to grow. I reached out to Sean Garrett to share with us his and Jenna’s inspiration behind Clever Accounts. His response was as refreshing as it was revealing of Twitter’s dedication to humanizing and personalizing the experience: We were inspired to do it for two reasons. One is to simply demonstrate through living examples how people, organizations and businesses are getting the most out of Twitter and, likewise, the value of the information that they provide to others across the network. Even something as simple as Twitter is difficult to explain without tangible use examples that are relevant to the many, many niche audiences that are looking to gain a better understanding of it. Of course, being armed with such examples also helps quickly disarm the “it’s about what people are having for lunch” myth, too. If we can do this, we can do a better job of explaining the distinctions between an “information network” and a social network. Secondly, we frankly weren’t doing a good job at real-time cataloging of exemplar uses of Twitter at Twitter. This provides a simple tool to capture and categorize examples. We could have just done this privately, but we figured (for the reasons above) to share it with the world. As far as where we see it going over time: It will hopefully extend into uses from all corners of the globe and far away from familiar examples that are told and retold in most media stories and conferences. We want people to feel the same level of surprise (and happiness) that we feel on a regular basis when a really new and clever use of Twitter is exposed to us. We’d love input from the community far and wide on what we should include. And, to be honest, we have barely gotten off the ground with it. Well done, Sean and Jenna. Keep up the great work. In order for Twitter to symbolize the true pulse of the human algorithm and scale with human behavior online, it needs to capture what “is” transpiring within the center and deliver it to those on the sidelines to demonstrate what’s “possible.” Twitter is poised to connect the dots and in doing so, it will eventually earn and captivate the audiences who will embrace the stream and platform and make it their own. This is how abandonment is not only vanquished, but transformed into retention and dedication. Hat tip to Louis Gray . Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Enga ge ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock

Viral Marketing: A Recipe for Success

cgseo — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:21:02 +0000

In September 2008 at Web 2.0 Expo in New York, I shared something that many, to this day, believe to the contrary, “ There is no such thing as viral marketing .” The declaration was empathetic in its direction to those marketers who have been on the receiving end of directives instructing them to create and unleash viral content. In parallel, the statement was aimed at those decision makers who assign such projects. Content, no matter how brilliant, creative, abstract, or controversial, is not inherently viral. Yet, we’re asked repeatedly to create viral videos, posts, and other social objects that will trigger an endless array of retweets, pages and profiles that immediately attract fans and followers accompanied by a deafening wall of sound propelled by word of mouth. Content doesn’t make something viral; people are the primary source of powering social objects across the attention nodes that connect the human network . Despite what appears commonsensical, we’re surprised when our brainchild doesn’t attract the views, attention, and circulation we believe it deserves. The reality of social media is this, in the attention economy, information isn’t randomly discovered and broadly disseminated. It is strategically positioned to either appear when someone searches for a related keyword or it’s presented to someone manually and deliberately. As individuals, we no longer find information, it finds us . The same is true about social objects . We must create packaged content with social hooks that comprise the story we wish to tell and the action we hope to spark – whether it’s through video, text, images, badges, widgets, or apps. While there is no such thing as viral marketing in and of itself, marketing inspired to catalyze word of mouth ( WOMM ) is a bit more thoughtful and calculated in its approach and it usually seeks options in and around Social Media. Good Ideas are Worth Sharing Ideas represent change whose time has come… At the heart of any campaign is an idea. And even though good ideas are worth sharing, in order to have any hope of going “viral,” social objects require sustenance and herding. Essentially, our job is to not only create the content, but also connect the dots for those individuals who can help us spread our story across first degree relationships defining social graphs (friends) and second-degree graphs linked by friends of friends and so on. Social scientist Dan Zarrella has analyzed over the years, why ideas spread . In his research, he discovered common characteristics of contagious content, those elements prevalent in many popular memes, whether organic or proactively marketed. Seeds The first group of individuals who are exposed to the idea/social object determine the extent and reach of the meme. These “seeds” are often mistaken for built-in audiences, for example, Twitter followers, Facebook Fans, blog subscribers, email lists, etc. The true opportunity for extending the lifespan and audiences for ideas is to carefully pick influential individuals who can spark activity and response. Early involvement, prior to anything being released, is key as is the definition of the role they will play in the roll out of the content. Novelty Distinctiveness is required for all transmittable ideas. Personal connections are also paramount. The personal motivation for sharing content is driven by how well something connects or resonates with the person exposed to it. Ideas connect initially because they’re relevant or personal. Other communicable emotions that factor into the motivation for sharing in a one-to-one model include: 1. Personal/Relevant/Timely 2. Humor 3. Utility 4. Relationship Building 5. Common Interests 6. Missing out 7. Conversations 8. Reciprocity Association and Correlation As Zarrella observes, intuitiveness is a key attribute for determining the likelihood for pass alongs. If someone can’t understand an idea, they simply will disregard it and move on. And in the era of the real-time Web, we move too quickly to further analyze or interpret ideas. Its intention and purpose must be clear from the onset. And to be quite honest, it’s our job to create compelling objects worthy of connection. Data shows that you have three-to-five seconds to engage your viewer and in that time they’ve already decided to either continue and possibly share the idea or simply abandon it. Relevance In the attention economy, our focus is concentrated on what flows through our attention dashboards and we’re distracted at will as relevant content appears. As intelligent filtering tools are slowly emerging, human filtering still prevails. Through selective attention, we each possess the ability to tune out the volume of information that relentlessly attempts to lure our focus. Relevance is key to encouraging someone to take the time to purposely share content with those they know. It is the art and science of creating content that appeals to people individually and also as groups of shared interests. This is why social media is social in the first place. People connect with individuals who share their passions, interests, and ambitions. Designing social objects based on the psychographics rather than demographics of those you wish to reach and inspire, proves critical in the viability of engendering personal connections – connections worthy of sharing. Utility Give someone a fish; you have fed them for today. Teach them how to fish; and you have fed them for a lifetime… While much of the content examples we hear and see so often are aimed at short bursts of entertainment, creating and distributing helpful content is contagious in its own right. Help me answer or ask a question. Help me find a reason to participate. Give me a voice. Help me do something I couldn’t do before I came into contact with your social object. The idea of integrating utility or resolution into social objects increases the sharability of content while also increasing its lifespan. Continually introducing useful content sets the foundation for invaluable relationships based on the theory of social exchange – those connected will grow with one another based on the ongoing exchange of ideas sparked by objects and conversations that flourish over time. Social Influence – A Cascading Effect Tying back to the importance of initial and repeated seeding, peer-to-peer influence sets the stage for perception, urgency, and also weaves the fabric that wraps us with a sense of exclusivity and inclusion. By aligning with those individuals who are recognized as leaders, trendsetters and authorities, an ambiance is established that carries with it the lure for affinity, belonging, and association, inviting individuals to “join the club” simply by viewing and sharing. The reward for these influencers is that they’re perceived to stay ahead of trends. It’s rare when you see someone of this stature join later in the game. They’re usually on the prowl for the next undiscovered object that when disseminated, reinforces their reputation as an early adopter. An element of wisdom of the crowds is also at play in the realm of social influence. There is an allure, an unspoken emanation of prestige when a group of people surround and react to content and objects. After all, if a person possesses crowds of qualified followers, readers or if a particular bit of content earns significant views, reactions, retweets, shares, and likes, then it has earned a state of prominence that begets validation. Communities literally form around objects and in doing so, they influence the actions of participants and spectators, now and over time. Social objects should thus be supported before and during their release to garner attention, support, followers, and influential activity. Information Voids In the absence of truth or information, speculation fuels hearsay, which in turn sparks movement and ultimately gains momentum as new voices attempt to answer questions through conjecture. I refer to the introduction of an event or object as the information divide , the difference between the moment information is introduced into the social web and the time it takes to verify its accuracy. Therefore I ask, is content or context king in the real-time web? The same can be said for word of mouth marketing. When information is intentionally missing or it’s positioned cleverly to incite speculation, social objects can spread across incredibly vast networks at blinding speeds. When BMW, for example, introduced its 1-Series, it did so through a video documentary (mockumentary) entitled “The Ramp” or “ Rampenfest ,” which chronicled a filmmaker’s visit to a small village where the town rallied around a record breaking attempt to launch a 1-Series BMW over the Atlantic. In doing so, BMW intentionally steered viewers towards wonderment. Was it really an attempt to cross the Atlantic? Was BMW behind this video? With every new question, more viewers and shares ensued. Today, visiting Rampenfest.com takes you directly to the BMW 1-Series home page. Experiences Cause Action Social objects engender experiences. The difference between the failure and success of a meme is directly rooted in the resulting activity that they’re intended to cause. Perhaps the most powerful characteristic of social objects is their ability to masquerade as catalysts that carry cause and effect. Strategic marketers will calculate what happens after the initial view and resulting share. They’ll define the complete series of meaningful steps and then reverse engineer the process to design content that delivers a complete and directed experience. Content can carry with it the ability to raise awareness and also incite change. It is done by appealing to the very people who align around the subject and in order to convince them, these social objects must carry personal and emotional messages that connect with the hearts and minds of participants. Affinity is driven by emotions, exacting the essence that inspires someone to support something they believe in and fusing it with the passions of others who also share in the mission. If the intention is supported through the content and as such, designed to further action, meaningful connections are then forged and replicated. We are after all, attempting to make human connections and they are, to say the least, priceless. This is social media and word of mouth marketing with a purpose. And, it’s the most powerful form of engagement I’ve practiced. When content connects with someone at a truly personal level, and explicitly asks them to participate and share, wonderful things come to life. I would say that the Pepsi Refresh Project is among those campaigns that connect people, ideas, emotions all while furthering the sentiment and support towards the Pepsi brand and the ideas and people orbiting it. Sharing the Spotlight Among the most powerful forms of galvanization is that of recognition and reciprocity. Movements can and should feature the very voices of those who can power the spreading of ideas. Providing them with a platform where they can voice their thoughts and views among vested audiences who can celebrate contribution is empowering and rewarding to brands and equally to participants. Social Media is powered by people and its future is dependent on how we not only consume content, but also invest in its significance and relevance. In Nokia’s recent experiment in the UK, the company erected the world’s biggest signpost to visually demonstrate and promote GPS functionality. The sign featured the locations of those individuals who sent information directly to the sign, and in turn, the information was shared via the sign’s Twitter account. It’s personal and gratifying as Nokia places you and me at the center of the experience. Sharing isn’t Caring, It’s Furthering an Idea Ideas are worthy of sharing, when there is incentive to do so. The incentive isn’t always rooted in rewards however, motivation can simply stem from a reaction – a smile, an email, an emoticon, credit, etc. This sharing transpires in the social communities where relationships are entwined and as such, social objects are most effective when they integrate sharing mechanisms designed to simplify the process of dissemination. AddtoAny recently studied the networks where sharing ideas and content and corresponding dialogue tended to concentrate. At 400 million strong, Facebook is by far the most active of all social networks, eclipsing email by more than 2x. And, even though email is second to Facebook at the moment, Twitter is in a draft position. The point is that without the inclusion of one-click sharing capabilities, combined with planned syndication strategies, the reach of our content is restricted even before it’s introduced. To that end, Zarrella also studied the effect of the word “video” on sharing within Facebook and Twitter. His observations were interesting indeed and actually make the case to consider focusing efforts on Facebook. Stories that contained videos were shared more on Facebook than that of the average story. On Twitter, Tweets that included the word video were shared less than the average story. Zarrella believed that the Facebook platform is conducive for sharing as it enables the embedding of multimedia content where as Twitter requires an outbound link. The Epitome In a recent post in SearchEngineLand , Jordan Kasteler shared the seven types of sharing motives: 1. Self Expression 2. Affinity 3. Validation 4. Prurience 5. Status Achievement 6. Altruism 7. Self-serving interests While there are many published formulas designed to help you make your social objects “go viral,” nothing is more important than… 1) Creating content that’s relevant 2) Identifying the tastemakers and influencers who will help us reach the right audiences 3) Involving them in the process before the campaign is officially introduced – seeding 4) Striking a chord with the person they’re trying to compel – making an emotional connection 5) Encouraging them to share it with their contacts 6) Rewarding them for doing so 7) Defining the action we wish viewers to take after the engagement Providing them with a forum for self-expression 9) Recognizing all of those who helped us 10) Connecting everyone together for future engagement The strategies, examples and supporting data are only minimized when we view them as ingredients to a recipe of viral marketing. Doing so underestimates the value of the roles people play in the spreading of ideas and practically dehumanizes overall experiences. When we introduce social objects, our ability to create, connect, and define experiences around these information and idea catalysts defines whether we earn the attention we feel we deserve or we savor the collaboration we engendered through design. Reflecting on the words of good friend Hugh MacLeod, the three keys to social media marketing, or marketing in general, are as simple as they are profound… 1. Figure out what your gift is, and give it to them on a regular basis. 2. Make sure it’s received as a real gift, not as an advertising message 3. Then figure out exactly what it is that your trail of breadcrumbs leads back to. I don’t believe in viral marketing, but I do believe in the socialization of relevant ideas and information when connected to the right people, in the right places, with genuine and pre-defined intent. Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Enga ge ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Viral Marketing: A Recipe for Success

Twitter and Facebook: The New Tools of Productivity or Distraction

cgseo — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:28:22 +0000

The argument is strong on either side of the case: do social networks increase or decrease productivity on the job? It’s a landmark case where the decision will ultimately determine the fate of business within respective online communities of influence. Perhaps however, it’s also a decision that we may never realize. On one side, the focus of employees and the output of their time and energy, is essential to the livelihood of the company that employs them. Unregulated distractions, especially those of an addictive nature such as real-time consumption and interaction on the Web, are potentially disruptive. In 2009, several studies reported on the diversion of social networks and the decrease in productivity as well as the security risks they posed to corporate IP and overall production, efficiencies, and output. As Caroline McCarthy reported for CNET late last year, Robert Half Technology found that 54% of U.S. companies block social networks completely and another 19% only permit it for business purposes. Of that, 10% of companies surveyed permit social networking for personal use and 16% allow “limited” personal use. In a recent issue of Wired Magazine , Brendan Koerner shared two studies, one performed by Nucleus Research that revealed that Facebook shaves 1.5% off total office productivity and another by Morse that estimated on-the-job social networking costs British companies $2.2 billion a year. In the context of security, Sophos published its Security Threat Report 2010 , which revealed the social networks believed to pose the most prominent security risks. Sophos reports a 70% rise in the number of organizations experiencing spam and malware attacks via social networks in 2009. And, 72% are of the mindset that employee behavior in social networks could endanger their business security, which represents an increase from 66% in the previous report. Here’s where things become very real….More than half report receiving spam via social networks, and over a third claim to have received malware. The total number of businesses targeted for spam, phishing and malware through social networking sites also increased dramatically, with spam rocketing from 33.4% in April to 57% in December. According to the study, just over 60% of those surveyed named Facebook as representing the largest risk. MySpace followed with 18% and Twitter trailed closely with 15%. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said in a statement published on CNET … The truth is that the security team at Facebook works hard to counter threats on their site–it’s just that policing 350 million users can’t be an easy job for anyone,” “But there is no doubt that simple changes could make Facebook users safer. For instance, when Facebook rolled out its new recommended privacy settings late last year, it was a backwards step, encouraging many users to share their information with everybody on the Internet. Three Sides to Every Story As goes the saying, there are three sides to every story, one side, the other side, and the truth or resolution, somewhere in the middle… Innovation and technology have always been the flashpoint of debate and concern over productivity. The telephone… The water cooler…(less technology, I know, but just making a point) Desktop PCs and eventually personal notebooks… Email… Web 1.0… Minesweeper and Solitaire… Cell phones… Telecommuting… It’s a long list and the reality is that distraction is nothing new in the workplace. In the same Wired article that opened with compelling data by Nucleus and Morse presenting the case against social networks in the workplace, the author suddenly slammed on the brakes, sharply turned the wheel, and jumped on the gas leading us suddenly in a new and enlightening direction. The article, after all, was entitled, How Twitter and Facebook Make us More Productive . Studies that accuse social networks of reducing productivity assume that time spent microblogging is time strictly wasted. But that betrays an ignorance of the creative process. Humans weren’t designed to maintain a constant focus on assigned tasks. We need periodic breaks to relieve our conscious minds of the pressure to perform — pressure that can lock us into a single mode of thinking. Musing about something else for a while can clear away the mental detritus, letting us see an issue through fresh eyes, a process that creativity researchers call incubation. Brilliant. And of course, everything in moderation… Wired quotes the authors of Creativity and the Mind , a book that blends leading scientific research with experiences to help readers unlock their creative potential… People are more successful if we force them to move away from a problem or distract them temporarily, observe the authors of Creativity and the Mind , a landmark text in the psychology and neuroscience of creativity. They found that regular breaks enhance problem-solving skills significantly, in part by making it easier for workers to sift through their memories in search of relevant clues. Last year, researchers at Australia’s University of Melbourne discovered that taking time to visit “websites of interest” actually increased the ability to concentrate, boosting productivity by 9%. As part of the study, the scientists introduced a dedicated category of study, “workplace Internet leisure browsing,” or WILB and they believe that this activity helps keep the mind fresh. Dr. Brent Coker , from the Melbourne Department of Management and Marketing, shared controversial insight from the study… People who do surf the Internet for fun at work – within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office – are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t. I took to social networks during and outside of work hours to ask the question , Do you believe that social networks decrease productivity in the workplace? - Yes! I find myself wasting getting sucked in to the stream - No, in fact, it helps me reset to jump back to work refreshed - I’m not sure yet As expected, I immediately received numerous responses that suggested the inclusion of a caveat that addresses those who are employed to participate in social networks as part of their job. To keep things simple, I noted that if you engage in social networks professionally, the conversations and links you encounter in online work also pose as distractions and in some cases clicks can lead us further away from the task at hand. This informal poll revealed that out of 785 responses, just over 49% of respondents do not believe social networks decrease productivity. However, 37% admit that they feel that their online activity leads them away from their primary focus. Notably 14% aren’t sure which way to lean yet. Engaging strategically within communities of relevance with individuals who represent meaningful value to the company in various ways is already proving effective, lucrative, and instrumental to engendering goodwill, loyalty and advocacy. Any businesses affected by consumers with access to the internet will need to grant access to prominent tools, services, and networks to listen, learn, respond, lead, and contribute value. True collaboration in the next web will be based, in large part, on internal and external participation. One could successfully argue that social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, realign focus, inspire creativity, and spur advocacy by introducing outside elements into existing culture and process. The top down support of such activity is particularly motivating and as such, harnesses the wisdom and energy of the crowds into an internal transformer for not only creativity and stimulus, but also serves as a hub for introducing and spreading enthusiasm and ambition throughout the organization. Of course, as individuals, we are in control of our experiences and progress. Our production is defined, among many things, by our ambition, motivation and overall satisfaction. The decisions we make when engaging in social networks are striking, not simply because they affect our efficiency, but because they test our determination. The live web is developing and while it is enticing, it is not beyond our means to manage. Rewarding insight, initiative, and ingenuity sets a standard. However, without guidance, guidelines, or healthy governance, we reap the risks and penance warranted by our lack of understanding and leadership…and this is true for both sides of the discussion. Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Enga ge ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Twitter and Facebook: The New Tools of Productivity or Distraction

Engage is Now Available at a Bookstore Near You

cgseo — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:05:13 +0000

Following a special and unforgettable debut at SXSW Interactive, I’m excited and thankful to announce that Engage ! is available at bookstores near you. When you invest so much into something that you believe will change the way people think, you can’t wait to tell the world. This book is written for you… It helps champions, decision makers, and executives understand the impact and potential of new media and how, when, where to integrate it into mix. It also helps you measure the effect of social media and how to earn support as your experience grows. Engage answers your questions today and serves as your companion and guide every day. Please help me share the good news! Get Engage at a bookstore near you or online (click on your favorite outlet): For those using a Kindle or Nook , click the image below to start reading it now… Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook Photo Credit: Wei Yang

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Engage is Now Available at a Bookstore Near You

The Age of Social Networks

cgseo — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:05:43 +0000

Social networks share a common ingredient in design and intent, the connection of people and the facilitation of conversations, sharing, and discovery. What they do not share however, are culture, behavior, and prevailing demographics . Each network is unique in its genetic and cultural composition and it is for that reason that we benefit by becoming digital anthropologists in addition to new media marketers. Demographics are distributed within all social networks, but only concentrated within a select few. Where specific demographics materialize varies from network to network and as such, the more effective social strategies and tactics are designed to reach target audiences where, when and how they engage . Over the years, I’ve relied on Google Ad Planner to surface the critical demographics in order to construct meaningful and targeted social programming. Pingdom recently examined the data and packaged the results in a visually rich presentation worthy of sharing. The study included 19 social networks… Bebo Classmates.com Delicious Digg Facebook FriendFeed Friendster Hi5 Last.fm LinkedIn LiveJournal MySpace Ning Reddit Slashdot StumbleUpon Twitter Tagged Xanga Age Distribution The disposition of age groups within social networking as a whole is representative of the state of social media engagement, but this is fleeting. Age groups will only continue to meander as online networking becomes pervasive. At the moment, we can see that those 35-44 dominate the social web, representing 25% of total participation. For those who have actively monitored adoption of social networks, this next stat might not come as a surprise, but it’s worth highlighting nonetheless. Following at 19% isn’t a younger generation at all, in fact, those 45-54 are the second most active group within social networks, just ahead of the 25-34 segment at 18%. Individuals under 17 rank fourth with 15%. I find it fascinating that the 45 to 65+ group, those who are usually considered laggards in the technology adoption cycle, symbolize almost one-third of total users of social networks. They’re equally connecting with not only each other but also the younger generations who are spending an increasing amount of time online as well. Distribution of Age Within Social Networks Reviewing the age groups broadly across social media serves only as a primer to the deeper level of analysis required to identify exactly where we need to connect with target demographics. As such, Pingdom performed the first level of segmentation to showcase how age groups are distributed within each specific social network. Bebo - Over 40% are 17 and under followed by 35-44 and 55-64 at just under 15% each Classmates.com - The 45-54 dominate at just over 30% followed by 20% at 55-64 and just under 10% at 65+ (Represents the highest concentration of the older demographics with 78% over 35) Delicious - Over 25% of users are 35-44 Digg – 35-44 constitute over 25% of the total user base followed by just under 20% at 25-34 (80% of users are over 25) Facebook - ~25% of users are 45-54 with the 35-44 group at just 20% (61% are 35 or older) FriendFeed – Shy of 40%, 35-44 represent the majority of users Friendster - Polar opposites with 25% under 17 and roughly 20% 45-54 Hi5 - 25-34 collectively represent close to 30% of all users Last.fm – Almost 20% are under 17 with the 35-44 category also representing just under 20% LinkedIn – Less than 30% are 35-44, 20% are 45-54 and more than 15% are 55-64 LiveJournal -25-34 and 35-44 are tied at 20+% percent each MySpace - Over 30% of all users are under 17 and slightly less than 20% are 45-54 Ning – 25% of 35-44 and over 60% are 35 and older Reddit - 30% are 35-44 Slashdot – More than 30% are 35-44 StumbleUpon – The 35-44 segment symbolize just under 30% of all users followed by 25-34 at just under 20% Twitter – More than 25% of users are 35-44, trailed by the 45-54 group at less than 20% (65% of all users are over the age of 35 with less than 20% representing the 24 and under age groups) Tagged - Almost 30% are 45-54 and slightly over 25% are under 17 Xanga – Over 20% are under 17 Governing Age Groups If we further review the data, we can see which age groups are dominant across the social Web 17 and under: 21% 18-24: 0% 25-34: 5% 35-44: 58% 45-54: 16% 55-64: 0% 65 and over: 0% Average User Age by Network Cascading further down stream, the data when crunched, reveals the average age per network, which allows businesses to better understand the general user within each. Bebo – 28.4 Classmates.com – 44.9 Delicious – 41.3 Digg – 38.5 Facebook - 38.4 FriendFeed - 38.4 Friendster – 33.4 Hi5 – 33.5 Last.fm – 35.8 LinkedIn – 44.3 LiveJournal – 35.2 MySpace – 31.8 Ning – 37.8 Reddit – 37.4 Slashdot – 40.4 StumbleUpon – 38.5 Twitter – 39.1 Tagged – 34.4 Xanga - 32.3 In social media, not only do women rule , but it seems that the middle-aged are Social Media’s largest share holders. Again, the average number is just that, a generalization of users classified by age, not by usage, theme, or connectivity. As we identify whom it is we need to reach and why, analyzing data as it relates to age groups is just one side of a multi-faceted program. In order to possess and convey value and meaning, it is anthropology, sociology and the psychographic mapping of people to themes, interests, and aspirations that will prevail now and over time. It’s the difference between visibility and presence, and in social media, presence is felt. Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Enga ge ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Pingdom

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The Age of Social Networks