The most popular and critical tools in Social Media (Facebook, Buzz, Twitter etc.) all came out of the USA. In fact it was in large part the Hippies coming back into San Francisco from their failed communes that developed the initial software that eventually lead to today’s social media revolution.
The impact has been global and is escalating. During the Iranian elections of 2009 it was Facebook, Flickr and YouTube that played a vital role in the democratic parties getting out the message. Democratic parties in Moldova tried to use Twitter. Pro-democracy groups in Egypt have done the same.
America is a model of democracy (set aside your partisan views for a minute) and represents freedom. We in Canada follow the same beliefs, as do all truly democratic countries. Key to good democracy is the ability for people to organize into groups, then to create their content and manage their activities. This is precisely what Social Media tools and services enable.
Although some other great Social Media tools and services have popped up out of Canada, UK, Germany and other countries, it is truly a gift of America. While there may be smaller wars raging, if America wasn’t the hegemony it is today, we’d be in far worse shape.
Social Media channels, tools and services will enable ever greater levels of democracy. Most importantly, these tools are giving people in fragile nations, emerging markets and autocratic states a chance to create global awareness and find help. Social Media tools may help in better managing globalization and systemic risk factors as well.
When I think of Social Media in global terms (setting aside consumerism) one can only conclude that of the many gifts American drive, panache and entrepreneurism has given us, Social Media is certainly in the top three.
What about you? What do you think?
(Author: G. Crouch, MD)
Blog, Media Analysis, Research•
on January 12th, 2010•
The under 25 age group prefers video and adults like photographs better our research finds. Using our monitoring tool and looking at average ages in Social Media profiles, plus language analysis, we wanted to know if video as a medium was popular in the same way across all age groups. Obviously it isn’t. Why? Understanding such preferences can help marketers understand what medium works better for different age groups.
We were somewhat surprised by this finding, given the popularity of video sharing services such as YouTube and MetaCafe. Our findings showed that the older the person, the less likely they are to create and share video. Watching video online is more level across age groups. Of the profiles analyzed we found that less than 10% of those over 35 were likely to create and share their own videos while 40% of those under 30 were likely to create and share a video. Once we go under 20 we see that there is an 80% chance a user will create and share their own video.
When it comes to photos, the over 30 set are more likely to post to photo sharing sites like Flickr or PhotoBucket, while the under 30 groups are more likely to restrict photo uploading and sharing to their social networks. This is not entirely surprising to most I would suspect, but validating as well.
The over 30 age groups however, will share and watch online video almost on a par with the under 30 segments.
As a social intelligence firm, we do a lot of research; that’s our life blood. So naturally, we look at trends and broader “uses” of Social Media technologies. Blogs are a key element in our research and here’s what we noticed this past year in how blogs have evolved.
A recent study by PEW Internet suggests about 11% of online people in the U.S. actively blog and of that only about 23% actually read blogs. Our findings are similar though we note Canada has a higher % of bloggers active. What we wanted to look at however, was the least and most successful blogs; how they have evolved in terms of architecture and usage.
Length: We found that of the most successful blogs, 87% tended to be 250 words or less in length for each posting. The longer the paragraphs, the less successful the blog.
Links: Blogs with higher search engine rankings have more outbound links with an average of 3.5 outbound links per blog post.
Video Blogs: Video blogs (vlogs) over 3 minutes in length tend to be viewed less. Our study group reported they would view a video blog an average of 64 seconds.
Comments: The top blogs in our research saw an average of 10 comments per posting across the board. We noted that 75% of the time these were simple statements of agreement and 8% of the time a form of conversation would take place in the comment sections. We also noted that 22% of the time in comments, they would go off topic. With video blogs, comments tended to be shorter (4-8 words 92% of the time) than on text blogs.
Media Mix: We noted that bloggers who mix images, video and text had a higher rate of comments (31.4% of the time) than plain text.
Business Blogs: Here we looked at blogs written “by” a business, that is, not an individual who is a consultant, but a business with multiple employees, even an enterprise. They averaged less outbound links (1.5) per post and had an average of 3 comments per post and less engagement. We distinctly separated business blogs because they skewed our findings. We also found businesses tended to be less frequent in posting (62% less) than individuals and only 14% of business blogs ever had the author respond to comment strings after a post.
Our summary is that blogs have become shorter and “snappier” as our online attention span seems to be getting shorter as well. The comprehensive data is for clients, but we wanted to share the highlights of our findings.
(Author: G. Crouch, Managing Director)
Blog, Reputation, Thunking•
on August 12th, 2009•
When books first started to be produced in significant quantities in the early 1600’s, academics changed significantly. Because all of a sudden, books were available to thinkers in other countries. They could compare ideas and concepts. That had never happened before.
As I looked at the topics being discussed from my last post, it made me realize that Social Media tools have enabled this yet again. What struck me as even more amazing is that perhaps for the first time in history, we’re co-developing the way we engage in this medium on a huge, collaborative scale never before available to humanity.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are writing their approach to Social Media activities like blogging, how to use Twitter or leverage a Social Network for marketing or selling. Many more are reading those articles. The power of being able to “comment” on what someone has written has identified thought leaders like Chris Brogan or Jeremiah Owyang and Beth Harte. Because they make sense to the majority.
Part of what I find amazing about Social Media is that we’re all learning together and creating how this medium can be used for business, writing, sharing ideas…anything knowledge based. The tools were created, as a general public, we’re deciding how to use them. On a scale never before available to us.
We’ve always had gate keepers that have controlled mass-communications; editors, pr consultants, reporters, lawyers, doctors…not anymore. We can choose to work with those gate keepers or not.
Marketers want to maximize revenue from Social Media. Companies are struggling to learn new conversation skills in the Social Media realm. Perhaps we can garner some perspective from childrens’ toys. Not the ones parents buy in a store. We’re talking the ones that get made of cardboard boxes, string, tape, markers and craft paper. The toys kids really play with. read more
Best Practices, Blog•
on June 29th, 2008•
In an industry based on a series of carefully choreographed set of moves, the moves are no longer the same. There’s a new partner on the dance floor now, and where everyone was doing a waltz, they’re doing the tango. And people are liking it.
Change, as is often said, is inevitable. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it. For decades the Public Relations profession has operated like any other professional, well-established industry, with a set of Best Practices and processes that enable it to function economically and socially. PR agencies have helped shape corporate and celebrity images, guiding the “conversation” with the public. Or the PR professional has worked for corporations in-house, acting as the director in the corporate movie. There is an elegant series of moves in the dance with the journalist, the steps are known and each party accepts them.
A PR professional had to work only with newspapers, magazines, radio and television journalists. Then perhaps put some information on a Website. The channels were defined, the medium known and understood. Feedback mechanisms were few, largely controlled and time-delayed. All factors allowing sober second-thought and time to remedy or let a story be forgotten. But somewhere, some smart geek clicked her heels and we’re not in Kansas anymore.
One of the most important assets in a PR firm, perhaps the most important, is it’s contacts with media. Many PR firms will even focus on certain industries and the media that covers those industries. They coveted, coddled and protected those contacts fiercely. They still do, rightly so. But now media can uncover more information, faster and check the facts and details faster. They don’t necessarily have to even speak to a PR professional; they can choose their dance partner now, and there’s a lot more dancers.
It’s not just the issue of media contacts and those carefully nurtured relationships that is having an impact. The PR professional has been the conversationalist of the public and private sector institutions. They could set the tone and manner, define the language and help impart carefully developed messages. I’ve been through the media training with bridging techniques and message management. These rules still apply, it’s just that new rules are being added to the conversation.
The challenges Social Media represent are numerous, and no rule book has been defined yet. Bloggers, citizens, anyone at all, can quickly start a PR crisis or boone on the Web in just a few minutes. Citizens can say whatever they want, unbound by the code of ethics and best practices recognized and accepted amongst professional media and PR professionals. Among the many new steps on this dancefloor, is that citizen bloggers and voices don’t know the workings of the PR profession and traditional media. They don’t accept the process of fact checking and attempting impartiality. Citizens in Social Media just want to speak when they have something to say.
It is dealing with these new moves that will have the PR industry facing increased turmoil and reeling dizzily across the dance floor for a few more years yet. But as the new channels evolve, no doubt new skills, approaches and tactics will evolve, and so will a new guide book. The PR professionals that can understand Social Media and integrate their practices with traditional media, defining new steps and leading the dance floor, will be incredibly successful and infinitely valuable to private and public sector organizations.
Blog, Reputation•
on June 20th, 2008•
The short answer is a definite maybe. It’s all about the strategy and who is doing the blogging, followed by the choice in tone and manner, and the desire to engage. These are the key elements to developing a more “human” corporate blog. The challenge facing most organizations is that they recognize Social Media and it’s potential impact, but don’t necessarily comprehend and understand it. This is the crucial different to overall success with a corporate blog. read more
Blog, Reputation•
on June 18th, 2008•
The discussion between the validity of Consumer Generated Media {CGM} (a.k.a User Generated Media) and professional journalists has been raging for a few years now. Journalists shun many a blogger for lack of facts and accountability in reporting. While bloggers often discount journalists under conspiracy theory tags for being in the pay of big corporations. While there are some arguments on both sides, the fact is, Social Media and CGM is only going to grow. With the proliferation of mobile devices and increasing availability of Web access anywhere this is pretty much guaranteed. How will this shape the future of media? Who will win? read more
Blog, Reputation•
on June 17th, 2008•
Some have called Corporate Social Responsibility the “New PR Campaign” for the corporation. Our experience shows it’s far more than that. When a company like Novartis reaches out to support NPR programming, they are taking time to invest in the broader community. Brewery, Molson, leverages a comprehensive blog to communicate it’s CSR programs. But few members of the general public leave comments, even when they are enabled. Does this indicate apathy or lack of trust of Big Corporate? Blogs can play a vital role in CSR, but our experience shows it is not where the company should necessary play actively.
The Molson CSR blog is just one example of a blog run by an Enterprise that is pushing a message, but no one responds, other than family or employees. The very nature of a blog is to invite 2-way conversation. What makes a blog highly successful is not just readers, but participants actively commenting. They don’t have to be meaningful comments on an entry, simply one-liners or “I agree” type statements – the key point here is that they convey a sense of activity, of engagement. In research of over 15 corporate sponsored and run CSR blogs, only 3 had any level of engagement. Meaning comments outside of recognizable family or employees.
A corporate sponsored blog detailing CSR activities is a key part of a communications strategy, and opening it up for direct comments is an excellent way to invite communication. Our findings however, indicate the usual views of the general public; that commenting on the corporate sponsored blog is not really a way to get ones message across. Most tend to feel that it is more viable to find an individual blogger who is not sponsored by the corporation in question, and to engage there.
So while a corporate sponsored CSR blog is a good strategy, since it enables quick and timely communication and leaves the door open to engage, a company is better off monitoring the blogosphere than it is building and simply monitoring its own CSR blog. Participating in those independent blogs is a whole other strategy and process. But monitoring is key to the PR team. We’ve seen several companies simply monitor their own CSR blog and use unique visits as a metric for success – but this doesn’t give a viable measurement. People may view a corporate CSR blog, but the whole idea of Social Media is engagement, and evaluating negative, positive and neutral commentary.