Social media for small business
Here’s an interesting articles from Mashable:
The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business looked at the relationship between social media and small businesses and found that the technology adoption rates in the U.S. have doubled in the past year from 12% to 24%.
The data comes straight from the university’s third installment to its Small Business Success Index report and is based on a December 2009 telephone survey of 500 small business owners. Adoption rate calculations are compared against a baseline report conducted in December 2008.
The study concludes that one nearly one in five small business owners are integrating social media into their business processes — Facebook and LinkedIn were the most popular sites. In fact, 45% of surveyed respondents even believe their social media initiatives will pay off financially in 12 months or less.
As the graphic below details, the small business owners who are using social media are primarily engaging in social media through company pages (75%) and status updates (69%) on Facebook or LinkedIn. What’s especially intriguing is that a much smaller percentage of respondents — just 16% — are using Twitter as a customer service channel.
Another interesting notion is that small business owners now believe social media can help them on the lead generation front, and that is the primary motivating factor for engaging in these new customer service channels. So while half of surveyed respondents found the time it takes to use social media sites more daunting than expected, 61% are still putting in the hours and making active efforts to identify new customers.
Clearly social media has become a valuable tool for small businesses, but we’re especially curious to see how Twitter adoption rates fluctuate over the time. While we expect more small businesses to use Twitter as a customer service channel in the year ahead, as it stands, Facebook and LinkedIn have become the predominant platforms for small business owners.
Social Media in the Classroom
Social Media Club folks are big supporters of social media in education. On Friday, a Social Media Club member blogged about an event they attended that discussed social media’s use in the classroom. Some interesting things were discussed. Here’s the post.
On Friday, Feb 19, I attended the Georgetown University-hosted event, “Social Media in the Classroom: Implications for Teaching and Learning.”
The event featured three esteemed speakers, each deeply involved in social media on their respective campuses:
- Gerry McCartney, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO and Oesterle Professor of Information Technology, Purdue University
- Ulises Mejias, Assistant Professor of New Media in the Communication Studies Department at the State University of New York at Oswego
- Edward Maloney,
Director of Research and Learning Technologies at the Center for New
Designs in Learning and Scholarship and Visiting Assistant Professor in
the Department of English, Georgetown UniversityThe full video of the event will be offered on iTunes U — Georgetown University within the next few weeks.
Quick highlights:
The first speaker, Dr. McCartney of Purdue University, described two technologies being used at his school:
- Signals
is a system used in large classrooms to identify students academically
at risk . According to Dr. McCartney, the students that have the
highest risk of not succeeding in their first year are students that
are used to performing well at high schools with lower standards. Upon
entering a competitive classroom environment that demands higher
performance, these students often perform poorly in their first
exposure to university-level curriculum. Signals uses data mined from
Blackboard Vista to place each student in a “risk group.” They are then
given a stoplight rating that represents their performance and
potential to succeed in the class.The feedback is real-time and given to students on their Blackboard
homepage. Along with the rating system, instructor-written intervention
emails and suggestions for study resources are given to provide the
student with an early warning and aid to improve performance.- Hotseat Collaboration
is a technology that attempts to engage the student in the classroom
using the methods and devices that students are already familiar with.
This mobile Web application promotes “micro-discussion,” allowing
students in a large class to interact by posting messages during class
using their Facebook or Twitter accounts, sending text messages, or
using the Hotseat Web site. The instructor will start a session by
posing a question for discussion, and students respond to the question.
In addition to these responses, students can vote on which topics and
questions they’d like to see addressed.The next speaker, Dr. Edward Maloney of Georgetown, spoke at length about two important questions:
- 1. What does it mean to take seriously the impact of social media on learning?
Dr. Maloney brought up a concept that we’re trying to grasp with
SMCEDU: learning environments can change, they don’t have to remain
static.He related Web 1.0 (the static Web) as corresponding with traditional
teaching practices; that is, delivering information through a central
source to a wide audience. Web 2.0, he said, corresponds well to our
real world practices outside of the classroom.As learning happens outside of the classroom (everywhere, really),
social technologies encourage the ideas of community, collaboration,
exploration, exchange, and communication. Further, it promotes learning
in informal, real, participatory, dynamic, and ongoing ways…in other
words, learning in a non-traditional sense. What does it ultimately
mean to think about social media for learning? To put it succinctly, teaching and learning in a new way.- 2. What is at stake in this question and the answers we may provide?
This is a question that never ceases to fascinate. What’s at stake, in
my mind, is how we distribute education. From expanding classrooms to
empowering students with a new enthusiasm and means to learn, the true
scope of what social technologies can do for learning is exciting to
speculate, and beyond anyone’s current ability to realize.Dr. Maloney described informal writing and blogging exercises that
helped his students plainly express their understanding of the class.
It also gave the instructor a constant evaluator of how each student
was doing, along with providing a collaborative, ongoing document that
could be used for reference by each student.The final speaker of the day, Dr. Ulises Mejias, brought some
interesting perspectives to social media, and the overall effectiveness
of using social technologies.He offered the network as episteme. As networks are not just
metaphors, we use them to form templates and models of social
orgnanization; indeed, we use them to shape social realities. But, he
asked, what are the limits of networks as templates? What do they
include and exclude, make possible or impossible?Dr. Mejias shared some of the concepts presented in his class:
- Nodocentrism: The distance between a node and something
outside the network. For all practical purposes, if something is not a
node, it cannot be rendered in the network as a node can only see other
nodes.I took this to mean that if a person is not included in the
network, they don’t “exist” within the network, and the data gathered
from network participants should take this into consideration.- Paranodality: The outside of the network is not empty but
inhabited by multitudes that do not conform to the organizing logic of
the network. He described this as, “that which cannot be Googled.”When considering who/what is excluded from a network, one can view
social media as a sort of social slavery: who decides what’s
included/excluded?Another consideration is that social media tools are largely
controlled by private companies. As such, they might not always be in
the best interest of learners despite being convenient and cheap. As
services such as Youtube (the go-to service to upload videos) or
Twitter (the go-to service for micro-blogging) strenghthen their
positions, participation among users is increased, but so is the
inequality among competing services. As everyone knows, competition is
a crucial component in the success of an open market.As it stands now, using the popular social media services is easy
and cheap, but the relationship between these companies and its users
is not equal. The shift may not be from a one-to-many paradigm to a
many-to-many paradigm as popularly touted; rather, it’s a shift from
one-to-many to many-to-one.Dr. Mejias’s final point was one that struck home with Social Media Club Education Connection: What is the universities’ role in social media?
It’s possible, and perhaps suitable, for the university to develop
alternative social media tools that encompass a variety of services
(blogging, micro-blogging, wikis, social networking, etc.) and release
them as public goods. They could be promoted through their use in
projects both within and outside the university, becoming refined and
standardized as they evolve. There is a possibility (currently refuted)
that Facebook won’t always be free;
similarly, the guarantee of free doesn’t exist for other
sites/services. Why not have universities work conjointly to offer an
alternative?
Surprising social media stats
Here’s an article on some recent social media stats that just might surprise you.
The December 2009 data from comScore (SCOR) were released Tuesday, and the results for the social media sector are nothing short of staggering. Fifty-four percent (112 million) of the 205 million-strong U.S. internet-user population are on Facebook, with 27% (57 million) still using News Corp.’s (NWS) MySpace. But according to data from both comScore and Experian Hitwise (EXPN), the most active users were on Tagged, MyYearbook and Orkut. And Facebook users were more active than those on MySpace.
There’s no doubt that plenty is happening in the social media space, but there are some facts that just might surprise you, either because of the speed of change or the discovery of players that may not have occurred to you.
1. Growing impact of social networking on surfing habit: In the U.S., 25% of all page views came from the top social networking sites and that is up 83% from the 13.8% posted in December 2008.2. Social media is still growing: one in 10 went to a social networking site in December 2009, up almost 100% from December 2008’s 5.8%. Compare this to the page view data and you get a sense of how sticky the social media sites are.
3. Social media sites are more vulnerable to trends: From December 2008 to December 20009, MySpace and Facebook switched spots. A year ago, 64% of visits to the top 10 social networks belonged to MySpace, with 29% going to Facebook. By December 2009, 28% went to MySpace, with 68% at Facebook.
4. Facebook’s prowess: Facebook’s market share surged 286% year-over-year, but it wound up being good for everyone, since it grew the market at the same time.
5. Market share growth was a bit rare: Aside from Facebook, only Tagged gained market share, as an increasingly crowded market required players to fight a little harder for eyeballs. Tagged amped up its share by 35%.
Twitter & Blogging aren’t the best ways to reach teens online
To continue on yesterday’s topic of social media & higher education, here’s an interesting article from Mashable about the latest trends for teens in social media.
For higher education marketers, these trends are important when promoting your school to potential undergraduate applicants. While blogs and Twitter are great ways to keep up with alumni, they aren’t reaching high school students.
A new study published today by Pew Internet finds that teens and young adults are blogging less and using social networking sites more, with the prominent exception of Twitter.
Pew’s Report surveyed 2,253 American adults and 800 U.S. teens to get a reading of how they use the Internet, which gadgets they own, and which social media tools they use the most.
Some of the data will surprise you.
The Internet’s Everywhere
Here’s a no-brainer: Young adults use the web far more than older adults. In its study, Pew found that 93% of teens and young adults go online, compared to only 38% of adults over 65 years of age. It surprises us that 7% of 12-29 year olds still don’t browse the web, but some just don’t have or can’t afford access.
Among those teens going online, 63% say they go online at least once a day, with older teens more likely to go online than younger teens.
Most are connecting with high-speed connections as well. Seventy-six percent of families with teenage children have broadband connections, while 10% still use dial-up, 8% have no computer and 4% have a computer but no Internet access. For comparison, 49% of families used dial-up in 2004.
The Internet’s getting faster and more accessible. As computer prices drop and Internet access becomes more readily available, we should see these Internet usage numbers continue to rise.
The Laptop Is More Popular than the Desktop
In terms of gadgets, more teenagers have cell phones (76%) than a computer (69%). More than half of 12 year olds own a mobile phone, while a rather impressive 83% of teenagers carry a cell phone in their pockets. That number only rises with age — a full 93% of 18-29 year olds own a cell phone.The mobile trend even continues into the computing realm: Laptops have overtaken the desktop for those under 30. Sixty-sex percent of adults 18-29 own a laptop, while 53% own a desktop. Other interesting trends: Males are more likely to own a cell phone, income dramatically affects computer ownership but not cell phone ownership, and race is a non-factor when it comes to the percentage of adults using cell phones.
Teens Just Don’t Blog. Or Tweet.
As you might have guessed, Pew found that teens are avid social networkers: 73% of 12-17 year olds, in fact. They are posting pictures, commenting on status updates and sending IMs.What they aren’t doing much of, though, is blogging and tweeting.
Pew’s study finds that blogging has dramatically decreased in popularity with the younger crowed since 2006, where 28% of teens reported that they were bloggers. Now that number has dropped to just 14%. Interestingly enough, lower income households (under $50,000) report more blogging than higher income ones. With Facebook, Twitter and other social tools to keep your friends updated about your life, blogging just isn’t as necessary.
Perhaps we shouldn’t include Twitter in that list of social media tools teens use, though. As we’ve reported on multiple occasions, teens don’t tweet, and Pew’s numbers don’t disagree with that assertion:
Yes, only 8% of teens use Twitter, remarkably small when compared to most social networks. Only one in 10 high schoolers use Twitter. Among this small group though, the girls are more likely to be microblogging: 13% of 14-17 year old girls reported using the service.
Conclusions: Teens Aren’t Heavy Content Creators
First, it’s important to note that most of this data was taken from September 2009. A lot changes in social media in a five-month period.With that said, though, the trends seem clear: Teens love to be online, but they’re not terribly interested in writing blog posts or maintaining a stream of tweets. Creating content takes time and energy that they’d rather exert on Facebook, texting, YouTube or other online activities. And of course, they have school and friends.
Let’s face it: Teenagers haven’t had the time to build up expertise, life experiences or a career that would merit content creation. Without that expertise, fewer people are inclined to listen to what they have to say, and without that knowledge, teenagers have less to talk about.
As my colleague Barb Dybwad also brings up, a teenager’s social circle is far smaller and more closely defined than an adult’s network. Perhaps this is why more closed networks like Facebook are more appealing to teenagers than Twitter, which is a completely public experience. Blogging was a more intimate experience a few years back, which could also explain why more teens have abandoned personal blogs over the last few years.
Combined, it means that Twitter just might not be for the average teenager. Let us know what you think in the comments.
Social Media populated by teenagers? Think again.
A common misconception many people seem to have about social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace is that they are composed primarily of teenagers…
This idea couldn’t be more wrong.
In fact, according an article by the New York Times, only 11% of Twitter users, 9% of Facebook users, and 14% of MySpace users are between the ages of 12 and 17. That means over 75% of individuals using social media are adults. Wow!
So what does this all mean? Well, for one thing it shows that social media is not just a passing fad. If nearly all age groups are using it, the likelihood that people will just move onto “the next best thing” is very slim.
The statistics also indicate how beneficial social media can be for businesses. If companies originally thought that getting involved would only be a means to reach the target audience of teenagers, they know better now. This finding gives businesses endless opportunities to enhance their marketing tactics and appeal to whatever age group their hearts desire.
Case-in-point: Social Media is NOT just for the younger audience- so embrace it!
The power to define and control a brand is shifting from corporations and institutions to individuals and communities.
Are you ready? Social Media Solutions works with brands to deliver an unparalleled combination of strategy, creativity and technology to produce solutions with measurable results for our clients. 
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