Social Networking

Second Annual #Twestival Underway

logos_yellow-greyAh, the power of Twitter.  We use it to share and learn about breaking news, to express our feelings, to offer and find exclusive deals, and to keep up to date with our friends.  Twitter can be so much more than that though, like making new friends and/or making a difference.

I, myself have met some of my best friends here in Seattle through Twitter.  And I always am using the site to promote things that can make an impact, like Earth Hour happening this weekend.  But wait! Wouldn’t it be a neat concept if myself and all of my Twitter friends and followers could do something to make an impact on the world.  Luckily, there is such an event. (more…)

How Many People Just Joined Foursquare?!

foursquareI’ve been talking about Foursquare a few times this year, and how both companies and consumers are taking advantage of the locationed based social network and app.   Foursquare gain popularity over the past year, and had roughly about 500,000 users last week.  A half-million users isn’t bad, but it looks like the network is growing now at rapid speed.  With the South by SouthWest festival happening right now in Austin, Texas, Foursquare has gained “100,000 users” in the past 11 days. 

The company tweeted right before their new 100,000 user saying they were almost there.  The company also says that there has been a surge of friend requests on Foursquare, so users can see where there friends are actually at.  (more…)

Consumers Favor Brands With Social Network Profiles

social-media-bandwagonWe often here of studies that find consumers who follow or fan companies or brands on a social networking site, like Facebook or Twitter are more likely to purchase products or services from them.  Once again, the latest study from Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies confirms that.

Amazingly, the study found that consumers who follow companies or brands on Twitter are 67% more likely to buy from them, while 51% are more likely to buy from a brand that they follow on Facebook. And when it comes to recommending companies and brands to friends, 79% said they were more likely to recommend them if they were on Twitter and 60% if they were on Facebook.  (more…)

The Olympics & Social Media

olympicsWe are one day away from the start of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.  And although social media has been around for a few years, this will be the most Tweeted, Facebooked, YouTubed Olympic games ever.

Soon we could see well-known American speedskater Apollo Ohno or skier Lindsey Vonn breaking world records.  Both athletes have Twitter accounts that they actually run themselves.  However there is a bit of confusion on if the athletes will be able to tweet or use any social media for that matter.  (more…)

Facebook Taking Over The World

facebook-worldLast week was a major week for the social network Facebook.  Not only did the social network celebrate it’s 6th year birthday, but also officially announced there are more than 400 million users. 

That means in just over two months, the company has gained more than 50 million users.  It took more than 4 years to get 100 million users, and since then Facebook’s population has been increasing and the speed that it’s growing is increasing as well.  (more…)

Facebook The Most Engaging Social Network

facebookengagedThis report actually surprises me a bit.  Pingdom, a web monitoring site, has announced that Facebook is the “most engaging social network.”

“Figuring out how engaging a site is can be tricky,” said Pindgom’s blog post.  “We could look at the number of page views per visit, but that number alone doesn’t really tell us much. We also need to take into consideration how often visitors come back to a site. After all, if we return frequently to a site and also view many pages when we do, it’s likely that find the site engaging.” (more…)

Social Media Helps Victims In Haiti

haitiearthquakeWhen there seems to be some type of major catastrophe anywhere in the world, it seems like everything else just stops and everyone wants to help.  Yesterday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti is just the latest example.

And many people are finding that social media sites are the best way to get involved.  With the use of social media, the citizens of Haiti can tell the story, if they are actually able to get an internet connection.  Many have however.  Jonathan A. Lusma, a victim of the Haiti earthquake, posted the picture to the left on CNN’s citizen journalism site, iReport.  Katie Hawkins-Gaar, a CNN iReport producer, talked to Lusma and said that he, “shot these photos on the morning of January 13, the day after the earthquake struck. Because of the multiple aftershocks, he said many people spent the night outside of their homes.”  Lusma’s photo’s are just one of many that are being used in CNN’s continuing coverage of the Haiti earthquake.  (more…)

Do Businesses Need Twitter?

twitterTwitter has by far become a great marketing and advertising tool for businesses around the world. By offering exclusive deals, or being able to help solve an issue nearly immediately, the use of the social network has been a success, but it is for everyone? Do you need Twitter to keep your business afloat it’s today’s technology friendly and social networking world?

Matt Bailey from SiteLogic told WebProNews reporter Abby Johnson, “No.” And while many have has success with Twitter, Bailey says that “you need to have a consistent marketing strategy of how to use that social media to your benefit.” (more…)

Social Media In The New Decade

fexit10 years ago at this moment, the world was relieved that nothing that they had feared about, regarding Y2K actually happened.  People were now placing their money back into the bank, while others had an endless supply of food they had stocked up on just in case.  It’s crazy to think that if someone would have said “Facebook”, “YouTube”, “Digg”, or just the words “social media,” we most likely would have given them a funny and strange look. 

It was in 2004 when social media was created.  Linkdin & MySpace took to the web and since then there has been explosion of “social media” & “social networking” sites.  When I graduated high school in 2005, if had ever wanted to share a video with the class for a certain project, I’d have to visit the library, maybe a video store, and rent the video, while worrying about some return date.  Today, my brother who is in his sophomore year of high school is able to use YouTube to share a video with just the click of a mouse.  Our world has advanced so much in the past decade, and social media has played a significant role! (more…)

Video Changing The Social Media Game

blogtvsOnline videos have become part of our everyday culture.  Within the past two weeks, the latest viral video, which features a 5 year old Japanese boy, playing the ukulele while attempting to sing Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”, has had more than 9 million views.  While we will never get tired of watching videos like that, watching live events on our computer’s is becoming increasingly popular. 

Over 10 million people tuned in to watch U2’s live YouTube concert in October, the first ever concert to be broadcast live on video site.  President Obama’s inauguration in January was one of the largest live online viewing events in history.  According to NewTeeVee,  69.8 million people watched the President’s inauguration streamed live online, while only 37.8 million watched on television.  (more…)

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