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10 convincing reasons to get involved with social media courtesy of http://thewordmonger.wordpress.com.

1. Social media is now the number one online activity beating porn and personal email to the top spot.
(Nielsen Wire)

2. Two thirds of the global internet population visit social networks.
(Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places)

3. Time spent on social networks is growing at three times the overall internet rate, accounting for 10% of all internet time.
(Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places)

4. Online including social media has become the most influential source in helping consumer make purchasing decisions.
(Weber Shandwick Inline Research)

5. Social media is like word of mouth on steroids.

6. Social media is democratizing communications.
“Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are in control.”
(Rupert Murdoch, Global Media Entrepreneur)

7. Millions of people are creating content for the social web.
Your competitors are already there. Your customers have been there for a long time. If your business isn’t putting itself out there, it ought to be.
(Business Week, February 19, 2009)

8. The next 3 billion consumers will access the internet from a mobile device.  Already 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices.  People update anywhere, anytime. Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences!
(Mashable.com)

9. In almost all cases social media is free.  All it will cost you is time.

10. Social media has incredible broadcasting power:

Years to reach 50 million users:
Radio – 38 years
TV – 13 years
Internet – 4 years
iPod – 3 years
Facebook added 175 million users between in less than 11 months

If Facebook were a country it would be bigger than the USA and the 3rd largest in the World

1. China
2. India
3. Facebook
4. United States
5. Indonesia
6. Brazil
7. Pakistan
8. Bangladesh
9. Russia
10. Nigeria

Marta Kagan, managing director of the full service marketing agency ‘Espresso’ has published a very useful checklist which is an invaluable reference when planning any social media activity.

View the list

McDonalds are increasing their corporate social responsibility initiatives with the second phase of their ‘energy from waste’ programme. Chip packets, burger wrappers and other greasy waste will be diverted away from the landfill sites and converted into energy, starting with a selection of 25 London restaurants. The long term mission is to send no waste to landfill sites, which is an admiral concept.

The programme is being run in partnership with Veolia Environmental Services, who are ‘waste-to-energy’ specialists. According to McDonalds, the initiative will prevent 2,500 tonnes of rubbish being dumped in landfill sites each year (about 1,000 tonnes per restaurant), which will instead provide the fuel for electricity which will be fed into the national grip. According to the Carbon Trust, the London environmental efforts of McDonalds has already yielded a reduction in carbon emissions of 48%.

A good discussion on the role of practical marketing planning in smaller businesses. How much does this article ring true in your business?

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/smallbiz-marketing/shout-out-your-message-20091016-h0uv.html

Japan’s Akishima Laboratories have come up with a method of branding the most abundant substance on our planet – water.  The device, named AMOEBA (Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin) was originally created to test the design of ship hulls until a student discovered that symbols and letters could be formed. Could this be the next step in ambient media…?

Paying bloggers to promote your product without disclosing your relationship is now officially dodgy, and isn’t the most sensible method of advertising. But it rarely backfires in such a monumental way as it did for this bingo website.

Read, enjoy, thank you lucky stars it didn’t happen to you:

http://betedejour.blogspot.com/2009/10/bingo-lets-play.html

More at http://xkcd.com/

Just two of the posts from www.ihatebillboards.com

America’s Federal Trade Comission has released new guidelines concerning the use of testimonials and endorcements in advertising and social media. This marks an important turning point in the way paid bloggers can operate in the US, which will almost certainly filter to the rest of the world in due course.

…bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service

Read the full press release here:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm