What do the latest social media stats mean for your business?

: Image by the tartanpodcast via Flickr

A global business I’m working with is run by a very successful woman who is rarely in her office–or in her home state, for that matter. She spends a large percentage of her time developing relationships with her clients in other parts of the world and making them wildly successful.

She’s right where she needs to be. And because she is, she trusts her online media presence to others like me who can launch timely social feeds that generate buzz.

Most of my clients dabble in social media, but don’t have the time to stop running their businesses to manage their online marketing and media presence.

But the latest trends show us that someone at your company absolutely must be keeping an eye on what your customers are seeing, hearing and feeling from your brand.

via spreemancommunications.com

You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article if you’d like to dig a little deeper. Favorite quote from this post? “Imagine not tapping into that enormous potential! Gone are the days when we can dismiss social media as a fad or something that only the younger generation is into.”…

Social Media Use in the Workplace on the Rise [STATS] (mashable.com)
Simplifying Social Media to Grow Your Business and Make More Money – A Free Call n September 30th (prweb.com)
Retailers Seeing Social Media Value (marketingpilgrim.com)

September 25, 2010 0

Access Your Business Documents from Your Android Device

via mashable.com

September 24, 2010 0

Facebook Now Worth More Than Dell, eBay, Yahoo or Starbucks… on Paper

Did you know that Facebook is worth more than Research in Motion, Starbucks, Dell, Yahoo, Adobe, Intuit or eBay? That’s according to a wide variety of investments and valuations that have shot Facebook’s stock into the stratosphere.

Although Facebook is a private company, investors have been buying and selling shares of the Silicon Valley darling in private transactions and through services such as SecondMarket and SharesPost for some time now.

Facebook’s () actual value depends on who you ask, though. Forbes thinks it’s worth $23 billion. SharesPost pins its value at $26.3 billion. And finally, The Financial Times says it’s a $33 billion company.

These valuations are based on real-world trades and transactions. Still, you can’t help but be bewildered by Facebook’s soaring worth. In February 2009, Facebook valued itself at $3.7 billion. By November 2009, it tripled to $9.5 billion. And since then, it’s more than tripled again in value, if you rely on these private transactions for Facebook’s valuation.

via mashable.com

Why is a good question? You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article if you’re interested in learning more…

September 24, 2010 0

OMG, Facebook is down!

via geekculture.com

September 24, 2010 0

Does the internet make you happy?

Apparently so say the Brits…

“There are those who believe that too much time spent on the Internet makes people less social and causes them to lose touch with the real world, but a new British study released today found that access to the Internet and the web, and especially to social networks such as Facebook, can improve people’s levels of happiness. The study found that Internet access improves the overall well-being of lower-income users, those with less education and women — particularly those in developing countries — by giving them a sense of freedom and control over their lives. The report, which was prepared for the former British Computer Society — now known as BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, with 70,000 members in over 120 countries — found what it calls a “statistically significant, positive impact on life satisfaction” as a result of having access to the Internet. Elizabeth Sparrow, president of BCS, said in a statement released along with the study that: Too often conventional wisdom assumes IT has a negative impact on life satisfaction, but the research has found the opposite to be true. IT has a direct positive impact on life satisfaction, even when controlling for income and other factors known to be important in determining well-being. The study, which was based in part on original research as well as on analysis of earlier studies on well-being and information technology, found that women, those with lower incomes and those with lower educational qualifications benefit the most from access to the Internet. “Much of the improvement in life satisfaction that arises from information technology flows to those on lower incomes or with fewer educational qualifications – what we might call the ‘disempowered’ groups in society,” the BCS report says.” Source: Yes, It’s True: The Internet Makes You Happier: Tech News «

Not convinced? Watch this…

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/979266267

Now you have proof to offer your family, friends, etc. that supports your internet ‘habit’. :-D

via ScribeFire

September 23, 2010 0

Ninite Brings No-Hassle Bulk Installations to Linux

via lifehacker.com

Ninite.com has been one of my top Windows resources for a long time. Linux or Windows, check it out for easy batch installs of all your favorite apps. Great when moving to a new computer…

September 22, 2010 0

Miriam’s Kitchen; cooking up something good with social media

“I first encountered the Miriam’s Kitchen team during the summer of 2009 when the DC organizing committee selected the Kitchen as its charity of choice for the second Twestival. At the time, we felt they would make the most from the exposure, and I think we sold them short. Their ability to grasp online social relationships and extend them to real life actions has been outstanding. It’s an honor to feature Miriam’s Kitchen as a case study.

Miriam’s Kitchen decided to participate in online media because many of their supporters were using social media. It’s important that we meet our supporters where they are, and social media helps us accomplish this. Many of the Washington, DC residents that donate and volunteer fall within the 25-40 age range, and are social media/web savvy.

We also connect with some of our homeless guest”s through social media,” said Jennifer Roccanti, Development Associate and Miriam Kitchen’s primary voice on the web. “While interactions online are rare, a few of our guests have posted messages to us on our Facebook page, and some of them have started using Twitter. We recently heard from our Case Managers that a few guests check our Facebook page for the daily menu before they decide whether or not to make the couple-mile trek to Miriam’s Kitchen each day. That’s a lot of pressure on our social media team.” ” Source: Case Study: Miriam’s Kitchen | Geoff Livingston’s Blog

Non-profits + social media is big on my radar right now because of the work that I’m doing for Freedom House Ministries in Green Bay. If you’re interested in social media for 501(c)3’s, comment, call or use the contact form to discuss how this applies to your organization…

via ScribeFire

September 21, 2010 0

Google Family Safety Center Offers Tools and Advice to Protect Kids On the Web

via googletutor.com

September 20, 2010 0

XMarks Syncs Bookmarks & Passwords Between All Major Browsers

via makeuseof.com

I may have to give this another look. Haven’t tried it for awhile. You?

September 19, 2010 0

Tumblr Leaves Posterous in the Dust [?!]

: Image via CrunchBase

Rising social media rockstar Kelly Neuville of Envano sent me an article from ReadWriteWeb [you can follow the ‘via’ link below the graph to the source and read the rest of the article if you’re interested] that would seem to suggest at first glance that I should abandon my love of the Posterous platform in favor of my first interest in this space, Tumblr. If I apply logic like this at every level in my life, I would learn a lesson from the flies on my farm and favor a steady diet of cow manure — after all, the sheer volume of their vote would indicate that manure is clearly a better food product, right? :-D

Now I’m not saying that Kelly was wrong to send me the article or that Tumblr = cow manure, although it would appear my analogy is heading in that direction. What I am saying is that there will always be a reason why the masses favor one product over another and it may have nothing to do with elegance or technological superiority. I posted the same data from a different perspective yesterday here; the article postulates that ‘The growth in Tumblr’s visitors probably has something to do with its popularity among celebs.’ and says ‘Earlier this week John Mayer made waves this week by shutting down his Twitter account, where he had 3.7 million followers, and switching to Tumblr full time.’ If that’s the case, then Tumblr has an ‘unfair advantage’ — it’s becoming the destination of choice for the MySpace crowd. My response? Meh…

via readwriteweb.com

Laura Ingraham was right — entertainers should shut up and sing. What I want to know is what are the thought leaders using? I was really impressed with Tumblr until I saw that Guy Kawasaki picked Posterous for his Holy Kaw! blog and then I wondered “what did I miss”?! And what about social media rockstar Steve Rubel? And what about me? Seriously, Posterous rocks at the two most important things I could expect any blogging tool to do; ingest almost any content for creation and curation effortlessly and autopost as part of my homebase and outpost strategy. I use Posterous as the foundation of my ‘e1evation workflow‘ and it made me one of the top thought leaders in my industry on the internet rapidly elevating my site to within the top 40k of all websites in the US in 3 months. I will and I have put my humble Posterous blogs up against the best and they’ve held their ground — believe me when I say I have no fear of Katy Perry on Tumblr…

Tumblr Leaves Posterous in the Dust (nytimes.com)
Tumblr Doesn’t Leave Posterous in the Dust (or “Why Facebook is scared of Twitter”) (tonywright.com)
Tumblr leaves Posterous far behind in Competition (techie-buzz.com)

September 19, 2010 9

Restaurant social media and word of mouth

via flickr.com

You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article if you’re interested in learning more. Comment, call or use the contact form to discuss how this applies to your business…

HOW TO: Hire a Designer or Developer (mashable.com)
Think ‘location’ -based social media is silly? (e1evation.com)
Restaurants and Social Media (kylelacy.com)
Ideal Restaurant Social Media Flow (e1evation.com)
Five Digital Channels For Word of Mouth Marketing (mindjumpers.com)

September 18, 2010 0

John Mayer, Katy Perry Agree: Tumblr Crushing Posterous

via observer.com

Hmmm. I’m a massive Posterous fan — it truly has changed my life, my business and my workflow. I do, however, have to do due diligence and revisit Tumblr [which was actually my first bet in this race] to see what they’re up to…