Social Media Revolution. Studies: Social networks exploding, may appear in government. The positive merits of social networking have been leveraged in a multitude of ways by consumers, businesses, and other organizations for some time.
Now, in light of tightening budgets, a VP analyst at Gartner says it's time for government departments to move past previous failed endeavors and wake up and smell the social. Considering the explosive social networking growth revealed by a survey Nielsen just published, now may be a great time to begin transitioning some government operations to social media tools. Neilsen's study (PDF link) focuses on the social networks that had the highest year-over-year growth in the US from September 2007 to 2008.
The reigning champions among social networks are no surprise: MySpace tops out with 59 million users, Facebook has 39 million, and Classmates Online comes in third (no, seriously) with 17 million. Facebook's gaining, though, as its growth came in at 116 percent, while MySpace grew just one percent. 35 Tips for getting started with social media » My Thoughts On Social Media. The barrier for getting started with social media is low, it’s dependent on your involvement level, objectives and goals.
The facilitators of the message, our tools, are the key components that make it all work. They are the tools in our digital toolkit that every strategist, marketer and PR professional should already be learning and using. The sole purpose of these tools are to; create, manage and distribute content, build awareness, drive traffic, connect with our customers and hopefully turn a lead into a prospective sale. Tools for your social media toolkit can be broken down into the following categories: Your Black Box – The flight data recorder for the Web The default tool in any toolbox always starts with Analytics.
Listening: monitoring the social web and beyond If you’re a PR professional or marketer who uses social media for marketing purposes, you need to be able to listen and monitor your surroundings for conversations about your clients and their respective brands. Enjoy a More Meaningful Web. Photo Download: The Conversation Prism. PC World - Business Center: How Businesses Can Benefit From Social Networking. For all the talk of businesses embracing Web 2.0 and social software tools, most companies are still at the very early stages of adoption, says Jonathan Yarmis, an analyst at AMR Research who focuses on emerging technologies.
In his latest research note on companies taking their first step into social media, he says that companies must avoid the "Kumbaya Zone" - the place where social media is ultimately a time-waster and has little business value. Yarmis talked with CIO.com about where companies have been missing the boat with Web 2.0 and social media, and what they must remember when they get started. CIO.com: Social networking and related technologies have been popular in the consumer space for years now, but businesses have sometimes had difficulty finding value. What are they doing wrong? Jonathan Yarmis: The conventional wisdom for companies looking to use social media, and I get sick of hearing it, is that "you need to engage in the conversation" on a Facebook or Twitter.