Numbers show more time spent on social media sites

Nielsen Online shows big increases in global audiences for social networks. Time spent on Facebook and Twitter is up 82% from last year. Facebook is still the top social site. Stats from December 209 show 206.9 million unique visitors. Time per person spent on social networking sites has been steadily on the rise since 2007. People in the U.S. continue to spend more time on social networking—and blog sites—with total minutes increasing 210% year-over-year and the average time per person increasing 143% year-over-year in December 2009. Year-over-year growth in average time spent by U.S. users, for both Facebook and Twitter.com, outpaced the overall growth for the category, increasing 200% and 368%, respectively. Among, the top five U.S. social networking sites, Twitter.com continued its reign as the fastest-growing in December 2009 in terms of unique visitors, increasing 579% year-over-year, from 2.7 million unique visitors in December 2008 to 18.1 million in December 2009. Exciting news for those of us who love social media marketing! Happy Sunday and enjoy your tweeting!

What to say to clients who question the value of social media

If I suggested to clients that they bring business cards to a social gathering I doubt they would argue with me. This is considered a sound approach to networking. If I suggested that they bring business cards to a work gathering they'd say, "Duh." Social Media is basically the modern day equivalent.

1. Social media is used more often than personal email
2. 77% of all active internet users regularly read blogs, including microblogs
   
3. Organizations that blog get 97% more inbound links to their website, and 55% more website visitors
   
4. 80% of companies use LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees
5. The average Facebook user spends 55 minutes per day on the site

Fun Fact about Brand Reputation

Are you building your brand reputation? If not, it would be wise to start... Dominos Pizza recently learned that the majority of their market had the opinion that their product is lousy. They learned specific details as to why their customers felt their product was inferior against their competitors. Dominos then used social media to their advantage by asking for customer input to develop a new and improved product.
inspired by Pilar Guerra

Twitter Numbers

Looking at user patterns, HubSpot found that Thursday and Friday are the most active days on Twitter, each accounting for 16% of total tweets in the analysis, while 10-11 pm appears to be the most active hour on Twitter, accounting for 4.8% of the tweets in an average day. This info came from TechCrunch.

7 Lessons for Better Networking with Social Media

Social media allows us to discover, connect, and engage with new people of interest. While most people are open to new connections and receiving messages from people they don’t know, there is a fine line between reaching out and “spamming.” The challenge is to make a connection clearly and effectively without wasting people’s time. Many of us are on both sides of this relationship — sometimes making the connection, sometimes receiving the invitation. To help navigate these waters a little better... seven key lessons for improving your social networking skills.

USA Today Survey of 46 Economists' Predictions

Economists expect recovery to stick in 2010, forecasting a slow, steady rise. Nearly four of five economists surveyed by USA TODAY say the stock market rally since March is heralding a sustainable recovery. View encouraging predictions see chart. If the predictions are correct, our beautiful nation won't slip back into recession nor will the Dow Jones Industrial average plunge anywhere near its March low. Can i git a woo hoo?

Haiti Relief as simple as a click

boblesko on twitter will give $10 to the haiti relief effort www.pif.org for anyone who starts following him on twitter.

Technical Writing and Web content tips

Business and technical writers should remember to keep up with industry publications and news, use charts and bullets, and write simplistic articles and guides for a range of audiences. Write like a reporter! read more

Why Twitter Will Endure — NYTimes.com

"I’m in narrative on more things in a given moment than I ever thought possible, and instead of spending a half-hour surfing in search of illumination, I get a sense of the day’s news and how people are reacting to it in the time that it takes to wait for coffee at Starbucks" read more

Real Time Social Media Stats

Curious About What Google Wave is?

In case you haven’t heard, Google Wave has all of this exciting buzz. Like it’s going to replace emailing in the not too distant future. Email was invented 40 years ago! And has been used for approx 15 years. I need to stay on top of all NEW things techno for my biz so I’m trying it out. The only way to try it is if somebody invites you. And then you can only Google Wave with other Google Wavers. Google is still trying to improve the program and ask for feedback. This sounds very fun to me. Here’s 2 links to videos that explain a bit about what google wave is: Helpful Videos: What is Google Wave? Google Wave Made Simple

4 new published articles!

Just got back from a book reading at B&N 86th St and Lex. Great store. Huge. Tonight's event was Gretchen Rubin giving a talk about her bestseller, The Happiness Project. Very enjoyable upbeat night and I got my book autographed. Now, about me, my favorite topic — Please click on the magazine cover thumbnails in the left column. The new articles are the top 2 rows. Leave me a comment! Let me know what you think. thanks and sweet dreams.

Social Media Success Stories!

I'm happy to report that by joining a LinkedIn group I get notices about new discussions. One very lively discussion was in answer to a topic posted by J. Paul Duplantis:

Looking for case studies on the successful use of social media to grow a business. Looking to dedicate a resource page to successful case studies of businesses using social media. If you know of solid examples I would appreciate a link. Let me know if you want the final list for your own use as well.

Many folks replied and offered links to lists. Here is one great example. Check it out!
social media success stories

Ways to Grow Your Business

Happy New Year! I'm totally rejuvenated after a lovely holiday break, hope you feel the same. Thought I'd start off this decade by giving a shout out about ways I can help your business reach its goals. With years of experience working for non-profit organizations and their management firms (Association of Fundraising Professionals, Philanthropic Planning Group of Greater New York, Women in Development and the National MS Society), I can help you in many areas — graphic design (logos, brochures, mailers, membership directories, books), websites (design, ongoing maintenance) and social media marketing including content writing. Whether you work in a startup or small business, or you're a member of a team in a big corporate firm, let me take the guesswork out of what to do next. Why pull your hair out? Start off the year with low stress! My rates are competitive and I'm happy to provide proposals and cost estimates at no charge.

Looking forward to speaking with you!
Cheers, — Dorri Olds

Digital Marketing Strategy Development: 12 Common Problems

"Marketing looks very different now than it did as few as five years ago. And yet most still approach developing strategies from the viewpoints they always knew. Every marketing and communications company/consultant claims to be able to produce digital marketing results. And very few actually succeed. Why? ... " read more

Social Media Marketing Studies for 2010

• By 2010, 26 Million (1 in 7) U.S. Adults Will Use Twitter Monthly
• Americans Spend 17% of Online Time on Social Media Sites
• In 2010, Over 50% of Marketers Will Be Using Social Media
• Blogs Most Useful Social Media Tool, Say 51% of Businesses
• 75% of Marketers Plan to Increase Social Media Use in 2010

learn more...