How Social Media times have changed

I've been actively engrossed in the business side of social media for over 1.5 years now and it's amazing how things have changed. Words like Klout and 'likes' common on our community have replaced huge follower counts and fully customized myspace profiles. Social media integration has become the priority of companies with website and complicated CMS tools left by the wayside. The difference between social media and social networking is clear.
The new shinny objects are still popping up but the dust (at least for me) has settled. I'm comfortable with my set of tools and move through new beta sites at the speed of light. Sure, the tools will change. They always do but I'm good with my strategic and tactical approaches. I have a few successes under my belt and preparing to unleash even more thought leadership around it (through social media of course!).
So where are my interests these days? Better penetration in the bigger sites (twitter, facebook, youtube), how social media can impact search, globalization of social media and of course the occasional shinny object. My mind envisions a world where email doesn't exist anymore and real-time, aggregation, and on-demand are commonplace. Where there will need to be classes on how to select your communication channel because we will have so many options and information overload will be addressed in formal education.
I'll coin the Notorious BIG's phrase "Mo Money Mo Problems" and say our future outlook seems "Mo Info Mo Problems" -- then again who wouldn't want more money. =)

Social Media over Superbowl Ad - Pepsi makes their position clear

Pepsi Refresh Project, Pepsi's new social media project, is taking center stage offering millions in grants to individuals, businesses and non-profits who have ideas in the areas of health, arts & culture, food & shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education.


What makes this especially intriguing for social media marketers is that Pepsi chose not to run ads in this years Superbowl but rather focus efforts on their Refresh Project.  Each month Pepsi will receive up to 1,000 submissions in the previously mentioned categories and anyone throughout the month can vote for up to 10 favorite submissions which are grouped by requested grant funding.  At the end of each month 10 submissions are awarded in the $5,000, $25,000k and $50,000k groups and up to 2 awardees in Pepsi's $250,000 group.     


Potentially, Pepsi will award funds to 32 different individuals, and organizations each month.  Pepsi also transfers over the top 100 runners-up from each category to the next month.  Applicants not only describe how they will use the funds, but also applicant videos and pictures.  People are encouraged to share through the social media tools like Facebook and Twitter and Pepsi's Youtube.com channel is also receiving quite the traffic!


It's great to see other companies besides Chase, Livestrong just to name a few utilizing social media for a great cause!


Great article about Pepsi's shift of advertising dollars...
http://masterthenewnet.com/pepsi-dumps-the-most-important-advertising-event-of-the-year-in-favor-of-social-media/

Twitter users - Twitterriffic or Twitterrible

My twitter feed is a bit lackluster these days. I only have a few account focusing on my passions and my time spent reading updates, filtering direct messages, and retweeting seems to have few peaks and many valleys. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly, I'm still at the top of the twitter user engagement stats as a member of the 17% of registered Twitter accounts who sent a tweet in December of 2009. Now, 17% may seem like a small number but with over 75 million user accounts, that still a whopping 12.7 million people.

Now the question is - what are people tweeting about? Twitter since inception has received its share of criticism especially with the baby-boomers questioning the value of social media. As the new generations (Gen X and later) desire to post their life events on social media becomes even more popular, Webinars, articles, white papers and semaniars are giving almost daily attempting to answer the ever so daunting question of how social media will add value. Value to your buesinss, yoru customers, and your employees.

Where will we be in a year, two years, even 6 months from now? Social media within its own industry has evolved. In fact, the one true variable that I feel will remain constant is the continued change and modification of how we interact with and benefit from social media. Take for example, Twitter's use of lists and regional related feeds or Facebook's ever so popular fan pages covering products to non-profits. Similar to FM going to XM or VHS going to blue ray, social media will surely take on a new form in the near future.

Twitter Stats
Twitter ended 2009 with just over 75 million user accounts.

The monthly rate of new user accounts peaked in July 2009 and is currently around 6.2 million new accounts per month (or 2-3 per second). This is about 20% below July’s peak rate.

A large percentage of Twitter accounts are inactive, with about 25% of accounts having no followers and about 40% of accounts having never sent a single Tweet.

About 80% of all Twitter users have tweeted fewer than ten times.

Only about 17% of registered Twitter accounts sent a Tweet in December 2009, an all-time-low.
Despite these facts, Twitter users are becoming more engaged over time when we control for sample age.