Entrepreneurs Question Value of Social Media
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Last year, social-media adoption by businesses with fewer than 100 employees doubled to 24% from 12%, says a survey released in January of 2,000 U.S. entrepreneurs from the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Network Solutions LLC, a Web-services provider in Herndon, Va. |
Meanwhile, a separate survey of 500 U.S. small-business owners from the same sponsors found that just 22% made a profit last year from promoting their firms on social media, while 53% said they broke even. What’s more, 19% said they actually lost money due to their social-media initiatives. |
To gain positive results, entrepreneurs need to regularly interact with consumers through these sites and not simply create static profiles, says Jacob Morgan, co-owner of Chess Media Group Corp., a consulting firm in San Francisco that specializes in social media. Read more at online.wsj.com |
Very interesting article on how social media is no longer a fad or “just for techies”, rather it is ingrained into our daily life and culture. Social Media: The New Career Norm |
Last week, several signs came together to further underline the fact that social media is no longer an emerging trend or passing fad, and that it’s gone beyond the realm of the personal and become a fully-fledged part of our working lives. |
Consider the following pieces of evidence: |
Facebook surpassed Yahoo to become the second most visited Web site in the country. |
In January this year it drew some 133.62 million unique visitors, while Yahoo [YHOO
15.34
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 ] came in just behind with 132 million. |
You power: The decade’s new media revolution |
Most of us can’t get through our days now without being reminded of technology we didn’t have or didn’t use in 1999. But as we Tweet via our BlackBerrys or watch the latest viral video from the YouTube application on our iPhones, we may be taking for granted just how much media developments have affected our culture and transformed our lives in the past decade. |
“What has happened between the beginning of the 21st century and now I think is the most profound part of the new media revolution,” says Paul Levinson, a professor of communication and media studies and Fordham University and the author of “New New Media.” “In particular, what makes these newer media so important is that it turns the consumers into producers.” |
But, as significant as the “democratization of media” has been, Hudson says he thinks more significant developments are on the way. Read more at news.yahoo.com |
Great article on what the GOP is doing to push the limits of communications, and how educational efforts are being led by @boblatta @robwittman @johnculberson and @buckmckeon co-founders of the @GOPNMC Now Republicans are charging ahead with their own social media agendas, which are becoming more prominent in state elections and day-to-day outreach to constituents.
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| House Republicans are particularly active. They started the New Media Caucus last year, although it didn’t launch a website until August. Since then, members have been holding one or two briefings a month to teach staffers about new tools. Apple, YouTube and U-Stream, a live video-streaming service, have been on hand to show off the technology. |
Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) is a founding member of the New Media Caucus. His office uses Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube to share information about issues and votes. He also uses a tool called Amplify, which shows what he is reading, and social network Utterli. Constituents can sign up for text-message alerts from his office, and he webcasts townhall meetings on BlogTV.com.
Read more at thehill.com |
Gary V’s Five Commandments of Social Networking |
Gary Vaynerchuk’s new self-help book “Crush It!” is a national best-seller, with 95,000 copies in print after seven printings. |
The book, which explains how to transform personal passion into a successful business using the free tools of the Internet, is No. 5 on the Wall Street Journal business best-seller list. |
| 1. Treat it like a cocktail party. |
| 2. Don’t draw lines in the sand. |
| 3. Humanize yourself or your brand. |
4. Understand the authenticity. |
Ning Pumps Up Apps With Week-Long Competition |
Ning Inc., which lets people create their own social networks, is adding some sizzle to its recently launched application platform for third-party developers. |
The well-funded start-up is holding a one-week competition for developers, offering six winners between $500 and $5,000 for the best apps, plus prominent placement on the site’s applications directory. The judges for the “Ning Appathon” will be Ning co-founder Marc Andreessen, Wired Editor Chris Anderson and tech blogger Robert Scoble. |
In September, Ning began allowing its members to use applications created by third-party developers like Hulu and WordPress. The move provided a needed counter to Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social networks that already enabled such features. Roughly 20% of the active social networks created by Ning members have at least one application. And on average, each network installs more than two apps. But Ning would be happy to boost those numbers. Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia Quality and Tips for Contributors |
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said Friday that the online encyclopedia aspires to be a higher-quality source of information but added that mainstream publications could learn from its disclaimers and community features. |
“Our goal is to make Wikipedia as high-quality as possible. Britannica or better quality is the goal,” he said during a question-and-answer session at the ad:tech conference in New York. |
One of the site’s strengths, however, is that contested entries — ones whose neutrality has been disputed, or that are lacking citations — are identified as such, Mr. Wales said. He wished that controversial New York Times articles, for example, noted when they had prompted arguments among editors, he said. Read more at blogs.wsj.com |
News Corp says MySpace’s $900m Google deal at risk |
MySpace, once the centerpiece of Rupert Murdoch’s digital strategy, has fallen “significantly” short of expectations and is jeopardising a critical $900m internet search agreement with Google. |
Weaker traffic means the News Corp division is now expected to receive about $100m less from a deal that had underpinned investors’ confidence in the MySpace acquisition, executives revealed.
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Google agreed in 2006 to pay News Corp $900m for the exclusive right to provide search advertising to the once-thriving site over three years if MySpace could guarantee a minimum volume of traffic. |
The agreement essentially paid for the estimated $580m purchase price of MySpace, which now trails rival Facebook. Read more at www.ft.com |
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Small Biz Mixed On Social Media Effectiveness
