To those of you who lead “the Pinteresting life,” you’ve contributed to a phenomenon that is certainly putting its clicks where the hype is. By that I mean, Pinterest is a two-year old cultural sensation that is borderline causing dependency among its users and the rabid audiences they’re developed. This rapid fire network has pinned itself to a rocket with estimated unique viewership ascending 429% from September to December 2011…and I’m not even sure if the sky’s the limit here.

For those who are unfamiliar with the fledgling community, Pinterest is a effective marriage of social bookmarking and visual curation with an extremely fervent user base. Essentially, people create a series of pinboards for areas of interest where they pin relevant snapshots with commentary to serve as both a reminder for later reference and also as a tour guide for visitors to learn more about each object.

Many consumer brands are also experimenting with Pinterest, using pinboards to present complementary products, ideas, and imagery to inspire consumers to visualize and remix new possibilities. From fashion to interior design and home to retail to entertainment, brands are using Pinterest to thoughtfully assemble a curated lifestyle. And, they’re packaged for the social and mobile web and optimized for driving actions as part Facebook’s new frictionless sharing ecosystem.

Some initial brands to watch include:

- Whole Foods
- Martha Stewart
- Better Homes and Garden
- Real Simple
- west elm
- Bergdorf Goodman
- Today Show
- Travel Channel
- HGTV
- Nordstrom
- Gap
- Birchbox
- AMD

In addition to soaring traffic, Pinterest is also rising as a bona fide referrer of notable Web traffic. According to a new report published by Shareaholic, Pinterest drove greater traffic than LinkedIn, Google Plus, Reddit, and Youtube…combined. Additionally, Pinterest was just .01% shy of tying Twitter for the 4th spot and .02% behind Google, which currently sits in 3rd place.

It should be noted, that Facebook is clearly the dominant player here, accounting for 26.4% of all referring traffic with StumbleUpon sitting far behind, but firmly in second position.

No report can be fully appreciated at face value. The data as packaged is extremely flattering. Shareaholic based its findings on the aggregated data from over 200,000 publishers that reach 260 million + unique monthly visitors. Publishers using Shareaholic are not reflective of worldwide internet web trends or everyday activity, but they do provide a relevant snapshot of the digital lifestyle within the social web.

What’s most remarkable is that Pinterest is still an invitation-only network. This of course lends to its desirability and mystique. Certainly, as anticipation builds coupled with creative and compelling use cases that continue to emerge, Pinterest shows only signs of remaining #pinteresting and relevant to visualized + curated storytelling and driving meaningful clicks for some time to come.

So what are your thoughts? What do you love about Pinterest? Are you a brand finding success or looking for guidance? Share your stories, experiences and questions below…

Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+ | Pinterest

Order The End of Business as Usual today…

The new, new Twitter is upon us and while some of you already have access to it, others will have to wait up to three weeks. I’m not one to write about new features or products as they’re released. But I would like to take some time to review why this version of Twitter is important to you and your business.

Twitter has undergone nothing short of a complete redesign…again. The new experience offers a much needed simplification. After all, almost six years following its debut, one of the most common searches for “how do you use…” on Google, is still…Twitter. With over 200 million Tweets soaring across Twitter everyday, the service is now aspiring to become something your father or mother or even your “sister” can easily understand and use.

Unveiled through a tagline of “let’s fly,” the new, new Twitter centers around five distinct tabs, Home, Connect, Discover, Me, and Tweet. Each tab presents a dedicated page that presents a snapshot of important features tied to particular actions or interests.

Home: One of the most notable improvements is in the intuitiveness of the design. The format is also now consistent. What you see on Twitter.com for example is the same as the Twitter app on smartphones and Tablets.I should also mention that TweetDeck be viewed as a TwitterPro version and is also now available on the Web.

Now, you have access to what you need in a simple and functional layout.On the “Home” page, you will find your social stream of course in addition to trends, recommended people, DMs, etc.

@Connect: The Connect tab is where you can see who’s talking about you as well as who’s interacting with you or your Tweets. The tab offers two views, “Interactions” and “Mentions.” Under Interactions, you can view conversations and Retweets, who’s now following you, who favorited your Tweets, who added you to a list, and other activities related to you. Mentions is just that…Tweets mentioning your @ name.

#Discover: As Twitter so appropriately states, the Discover tab is where simplicity meets serendipity. I love that…it’s very true and also it is serendipity that makes the egosystem so personal, exciting and valuable at once. In the egosystem, everything literally revolves around you. Your experience on Twitter is defined by who you follow, who they follow, trends based on relationships, and the interactions you have as a result. These interactions are unique to you and that is true for each of us. What you see is not what I see and that keeps things exciting. The new Twitter framework ensures that discovery and also serendipity remains personal.

Get Embed with Twitter

Before we move on, I’d like to call attention to one additional update to the Twitter experience. With the new Twitter framework, certain elements become portable to websites, blogs and other web platforms. To begin, Twitter is now making Tweets officially embeddable. As you know, there’s more to any Tweet than 140 or less characters. There are experiences, conversations, and expressions behind each. Not only will visitors see the Tweet wherever it may be embedded, Tweets become living pieces of interactive media wherever they’re placed.

Yes, embedded Tweets are portable and fully functional. Visitors can Reply, Retweet, Favorite or Follow without leaving your page, simply by clicking the respective trigger on the Tweet itself.

Twitter also improved its Tweet and Follow buttons. The new #hashtag button tells visitors that there is a relevant conversation taking place on Twitter and allows them to follow or join in with just one click. The @mention button gives people a shortcut to easily Tweet you and any desired account.

Go here to design your custom Twitter buttons.

Brand Pages

If you’ve ever clicked on a Promoted Tweet, you were either sent to a custom landing page, a traditional website, or perhaps a Facebook brand page. With Twitter’s new brand pages, it hopes businesses will design Twitter experiences that keep you in Twitter. It also hopes to increase the value of its Promoted products overall by giving brands more control in how they market themselves to consumers.

Twitter’s Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain recently shared that in his meetings with CMOs over the past year, the most recurring requests focused specifically on brandable pages. Like its bigger social siblings Google+ and Facebook, Twitter’s brand pages have officially taken flight. Enhanced profile pages as Twitter refers to them, give marketers the ability to shape the impressions of visitors while adhering to the brand style guide. Previously, businesses were confined to creative backgrounds and bios as well as their Tweets to define the brand experience. Now Twitter gives brands more control in how consumers view the company in Twitter…free of charge. And, Twitter removes outside advertising from each brand page.

For examples and perhaps to glean insights into best practices, Twitter launched with 21 advertising partners. You can view their enhanced profile pages by clicking each brand: @AmericanExpress, @BestBuy, @bing, @chevrolet, @CocaCola, @Dell, @DisneyPixar, @generalelectric, @Heineken, @HP, @intel, @JetBlue, @Kia, @McDonalds, @nikebasketball, @NYSE_Euronext, Paramount Pictures’ Mission: Impossible – @GhostProtocol, @pepsi, @Staples, @subwayfreshbuzz, and @VerizonWireless.

What does this mean for businesses specifically?

1. Businesses can host a branded experience for consumers in Twitter without forcing them outside of their preferred network

2. Brands can adhere to brand style guides to present a uniform color, typeface, presence, etc.

3. Guide the consumer experience with intentionally presented Tweets, media, and information.

4. Chart a new click path that starts with a Promoted Tweet and/or media to lead consumers on a more meaningful journey that can start and end in Twitter or continue outside of the information network. Much in the same way Facebook offers landing tabs, Twitter can offer a similar experience that changes based on the priorities of the brand.

5. Allow brands to present a more engageable profile where people follow companies because of the thoughtfulness that is invested in presentation and a meaningful Tweet stream. Brands are now measured not only by their actions, but also their words and content.

It’s now your turn. Are you ready to take flight on the new, new Twitter?

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+

The End of Business as Usual: Rewire the way you work to succeed in the consumer revolution

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Guest post by Matt Polsky, social media director for Veterans United Home Loans

By now, many of us have already started setting up our Google+ business pages, and have noticed that there’s nothing overly special about these business pages yet, since they currently lack a vanity URL, have no setting for multiple admins and closely resemble a personal page. However, they will be connected back to Google’s search engine in a way that removes the noise made by competitors.

Towards the end of October, I did a simple search using the + operator, which has long been used as a way of identifying words that are required to appear in the desired results. Instead of receiving my query, I was given an error message saying, “The + operator has been replaced. To search for an exact word or phrase, use double quotation marks.”

So where did the + operator go, and why would they replace it? Simply put, the + operator has been assigned a new job – directly send users to a business’ Google+ page. Google refers to this as Google+ Direct Connect and gives every business a reason to have a Google+ page.

For traditional searches, Google+ pages will show up in the SERPs like any other page and will not be weighted any more different than any other page, to comply with anti-trust regulations. However, when a user searches with a “+” in front of a business’ name, they will go directly to that business’ Google+ page, and will not see any other search results.

This feature could be extremely advantageous for brands, making them able to funnel users directly to the information they want show, removing the presence of other sites that get in the way.

Google+ Direct Connect is still in its beta phase and won’t work for every Google+ page just yet. As Google experiments with Direct Connect, they will establish a stronger algorithm and will make it more widely available. As of now, a page’s eligibility for Direct Connect is determined by signals that determine relevancy and popularity, such as social signals, a link between your Google+ page and your website as well as the number of actual searches for that particular brand.

So after the addition of branded pages, will Google+ become the next Facebook or Twitter? Well that is up to Google. They most certainly have the resources, but they lack providing value that is different from Facebook or Twitter, which has caused users to refrain from repeatedly using their service.

At Pubcon 2011, a premier online marketing conference, one of the speakers asked a room of 300 social media specific marketers, who uses Google+ and nearly every hand went up. The next question was who uses Google+ on a daily basis and only four hands went up.

While Google+ may be lacking in stickiness as of now, you must still consider that Google, the premier search engine, is in control of this social network and in the past months, social signals have had a strong effect on the SERPs. In addition to this, remember that Google+ has only been live just over 120 days, yet holds over 40 million users.

As Google sorts out how to provide value different from other social networks, the only remaining problem for businesses is finding the right strategy to persuade customers to use the new + operation and bypass other brands results.

Google loves change and to keep people guessing, which means I feel we can all expect to see Google+ go through a metamorphosis in the upcoming months to a platform that will make it a true competitor with Facebook. With all that being said, what features would you like to see Google add to Google+?

Matt Polsky works in Search and Social Media Marketing and is the Social Media Director for Veterans United Home Loans, the nation’s leading dedicated provider of VA home loans. Connect with Matt on Twitter @mattpolsky.

This is part two in a short series to introduce The End of Business as Usual…originally posted on Harvard Business Review (edited)

There’s an old saying that carries renewed meaning these days: Give the people what they want. Brands are furiously creating profiles in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter in the hopes of building engaging communities with customers and giving people what the brands think they want. The main activity in this effort is to spur consumers to “like” and “follow” a brand’s Facebook and Twitter streams. But are these companies developing effective campaigns to build engagement and give the people what they want? From where I sit, I’d say many are not. If businesses are unable to change course, a very real — and likely very painful — lesson lies ahead. Once-willing consumers will soon become reluctant to connect with brands or will completely sever social ties to brands once they deem the connection fruitless.

Not long ago, I attended a daylong social marketing summit at the campus of a leading national brand that also housed a number of popular sub brands. Following my presentation, I returned to my seat to take in a presentation from a sales rep for Facebook. He talked about why brands will benefit from setting up shop in Facebook — consumers are willing to engage with brands that make it worth their while. But somewhere in the middle of his presentation, however, I was jolted into a state of disbelief. The rep looked upon the audience of brand managers with genuine sincerity and in a calming voice expressed, “Don’t over-think any of this. It’s not that complicated. Do four things every week…ask a question, run a poll, share links, and engage with your fans. Oh, and have fun!”

It’s not that this advice isn’t helpful. But it is exactly the type of counsel that contributes to the phenomenon of social “stream fatigue.” More and more people in social networks will begin realizing that they hold control of their social streams and can simply unlike or unfollow brands that don’t deliver value.

It’s time for brands to rethink their approach in social media

Everything begins with providing a reason for consumers to connect with brands in social networks, not once, but now and over time, again and again. Brands must study consumer preferences in advance of social efforts and continually monitor what consumers expect and want in this channel. Effective brand engagement is directly linked to the value customers take away from the branded social experience and how closely their expectations and desires are met.

To help understand the contours of this situation, marketing firm Exact Target set out to understand what it is that customers want in social relationships. This valuable information can only help brands design experiences that meet or exceed needs and expectations. In its study appropriately titled “The Social Break-up,” (registration required to download survey) 55-percent of Facebook users reported liking a brand and then later deciding they no longer wish to see the company’s posts. Half of fans say that they really aren’t even fans as they don’t visit the page or web site after the “Like.” Seventy-one percent of consumers say that they’re now becoming more selective about the brands they like.

When asked why consumers were breaking-up with brands in Facebook and Twitter, the top reasons cited were:

• The company posts too frequently
• My wall was becoming too crowded with marketing posts
• The content was too repetitive or boring

In the previous three points, we learn what not to do. When customers were asked why they unliked brands, we get a better idea for what to do next  (interpreted):

• I only “Liked” the company to take advantage of an offer
• Brands didn’t offer enough special offers or deals over time to make it worth my while
• Their posts were too promotional without the ability to take action against them within the stream

It comes back to intention and value. Customers are yearning for a more useful or meaningful connection and for the most part, brands are missing the opportunity to truly engage. The ExactTarget data highlights the need for brands to move away from posting marketing or promotional content or repeatedly diluting streams with boring posts. These acts will only drive customers away from social engagement. Instead, by providing special offers and more useful, actionable or engaging updates, customers will find value in preserving the connection.

IBM also conducted a study that asked consumers what they expected from brand engagement in social media. As part of its research, IBM asked business leaders what they thought consumers were seeking in a social relationship. The results identified a dramatic gap between presumption and actual demand.

The top two reasons consumers gave as to why they interact with companies in social networks were:

1. Receive discounts (61%)
2. Make purchases (55%)

In contrast, businesses believe that the top two reasons consumers follow them in social networks are…

1. Learn about new products (73%)
2. To receive general information (71%)

While consumers expressed the desire to receive discounts or make purchases as the top reasons for engagement in social media, businesses view these actions as the lowest two motives for connecting in the social web.

What we learn from these two studies is that it’s not about the content, the profile, or publishing information regularly; it’s about understanding and delivering what customers want.

If you’re not sure what customers want…ask!

Ask and ye shall receive. You’ve heard it a million times, but are businesses actually practicing what they preach? To bridge the gap between consumer expectations and business perceptions, asking customers what they want can go a long way. For example, when Google’s much discussed new social network launched, two major brands were front and center hoping to deliver a unique, value add experience. Ford Motor Company was one of the first companies to build a brand page and in an notable move, asked people what they expected from the company in Google+. Ford’s Scott Monty and team took the scores of feedback to a dedicated engagement and content strategy.  Shortly thereafter, Michael Dell personally asked his circles about the roll Google Hangouts, a group chat service in Google+, can play in customer service.

“I am thinking about hangouts for business. Would you like to be able to connect with you Dell service and sale teams via video directly from Dell.com?”

Over 800 people responded and seemed to genuinely support the idea. Simply asking people what they want from the social media is the first step a business can take in bridging the consumer gap.

The reality is that customers can and will cut ties with brands that do not take their best interests into account. Consumers are realizing that they have the power to reduce or eliminate stream fatigue by tailoring the relationships they maintain in each network.

In order to redesign social programs to deliver value to customers and avoid getting culled from a social stream, businesses will need a better understanding of consumer wants and expectations. Asking them what they want is a good start. This can be done through surveys, customer service prompts or other creative means that may already be in place. The answers will reveal the ingredients necessary to design a relevant and valuable social media formula. In every strategy moving forward, businesses must also integrate feedback loops to learn how programs are performing and how best to improve them over time. Whether social media is a combination of discounts or special promotions, thought leadership, social commerce, or entertainment, customers should drive the elements of companies’ social media design. This is the way to better engage customers by giving them, the audience, what they want.

The End of Business as Usual will be available in the coming weeks. You can pre-order now at Amazon | Barnes and Noble | 800CEOREAD.

Part One – Digital Darwinism, Who’s Next

The question seems premature or perhaps over dramatized, but I ask it with all sincerity. Whether the answer is yes or no or if the answer is not yet within grasp, think about the question at any level you wish and try to answer it. It is the process of thinking through the strengths and weaknesses of Facebook and Google Plus where you discover what each network means to you and why and how you will divide your time and focus in each. Or, you may uncover reasons to jump from one network to the other or pull the plug all together. It’s a healthy exercise to help you find balance and reconnect with your core values that drive productivity and fulfillment.

The adoption of Google+ is nothing short of astounding. comScore estimates that 25 million people have circled their friends and are sharing, +1′ing their way, and chatting their way toward social bliss. comScore visualizes the blinding velocity of Google’s growth, reaching 25 million within its first month of debut. In comparison, it took Twitter and Facebook almost three years to hit that milestone.

Now, some argue that the comparison to Twitter and Facebook is not parallel as Google is well established, for example there are an estimated 200 million users of gmail today. In the grand scheme of the discussion, the other social networks emerged as startups. On the other hand, Bradley Horowitz, VP Product at Google+ pointed out to me that network growth is purely organic without the benefit of Google’s marketing muscle-at least not yet. People can only join the network with an invitation from someone else. Imagine what the momentum will look like once users of other Google products are officially invited to join and in turn invite others.

Adoption is global…

As you can see, adoption is a global phenomenon. with the U.S., India, Canada, the U.K., Germany, Brazil, France, Taiwan, Turkey, and Spain rounding out the top 10 countries driving growth.

While women generally out number men in some of the leading networks in the social web, Google+ is another story. comScore notes that males make up 63% of all U.S. visitors.

Will You Leave Facebook for Google Plus?

As I noted in my initial analysis, Google+ is not a Facebook or Twitter killer and I don’t think that’s the right lens for which to survey the social landscape. In the U.S., we have a few top traditional TV networks, CBS, ABC, and NBC. In social networking, we now have three top social networks to compete for global online attention and interaction. In this example, none of the traditional networks successfully captured the attention of every viewer possible nor did one network kill the other. Instead, the programming of each network attracts people through content, creativity, and timing, defining, segmenting and sharing the audience around shared interests.

The same can be true in social networking. People will invest in the networks where they find value. Value is defined by the groups (or circles) of people they know, those they admire or respect, and the content and experiences they share. Personal fulfillment is also key. Social currency drives engagement as individuals must feel a sense of reciprocity, recognition and reward in each exchange.

With that said, I was fascinated by the number of passionate debates that explored whether or not people were planning on leaving Facebook in favor of Google+, those who were reluctant to embrace a new network and those who were ready to declare social media bankruptcy. I hosted a poll to surface opinions and perceptions that would bring clarity to the discussion.

I asked a simple, but leading question, “Will you abandon Facebook in favor of Google+?” I also invited participants to share their reasons why they voted yes, no, or selected any of the other options. I then shared the poll on Twitter, Facebook, and in Google+ and captured feedback in each network to contextualize each response. 1,977 people voted, with 23,000 people viewing the poll

To say that it seemed to strike a chord is an understatement. The emotion was raw. The responses were revealing.

I was surprised and not surprised to see that 23% of participants stated that they will leave Facebook in favor of Google+. 18% said “no way!” Almost half of the almost 2,000 respondents plan on using both networks to learn more. For fun, but also to take the temperature of social users, I asked if people currently suffer from social network fatigue (SNF) to which 7% responded yes.

Mashable and PC Magazine also hosted similar polls and I found the results worthy of sharing.

Mashable readers directly align with the results of this survey with 23% planning on leaving Facebook for Google+. But, PC Magazine readers are a little more ambitious with 50% claiming that they will move their social residence to Google+.

I also wanted to learn more about those who participated in this survey, so I asked respondents to indicate gender and age.

The gender divide almost matches the comScore U.S. breakdown of Google+visitors (63%), with men accounting for 60% of all respondents.

I also asked about age. As you can see, the numbers again almost match the comScore results with 24-34 and 35-44 representing the two largest demographic age groups with 36% and 28% responding respectively. The younger demographic didn’t turn out for my study, but as you can see from comScore’s report, they represent a significant user base.

Women represent the larger population in Facebook estimated at 57%. With Google+, men represent the larger percentage of inhabitant. It is how the results break down the gender lines that I find interesting. Note: these numbers are a representation of the larger dataset as pulling information out of TWTPOLL proved a bit difficult here.

23% vs 15%: The percentage of men to women explicit in their claim that they plan on abandoning Facebook in favor of Google+.

50% vs. 51%: The percentage of women to men that will equally explore both options before making a decision.

7%: The equal percentage of men and women who feel SNF.

Now let’s take a look at some of the responses…

YES!

Travis Wright (teedubya) - Already shut down my wall… and moved shop. Although, I will keep it open so I can “connect” with 3rd party sites easily… and comment on my high school luddite friends statuses.
Source: Google+

Steven Streight - Facebook is a cesspool of rogue apps, spammy games, phishing exploits, and disrespect for user privacy. It has very trivial content compared to Google+. I permanently deleted my account a long time ago. Twitter seems cold, lifeless, hard to manage, no Circles or ways to quickly see what my close pals are saying. Google+ is way better than both. I am spending a lot less time on Twitter now.
Source: Google+

Note: The conversation hosted on Facebook did not yield a single “yes,” but it did produce one example of SNF.

@FangFan62 – I hope to once more of my friends and family are on it.
Source: Twitter

@MiguelAngelArce - I voted Yes!, I like circles and as long as I can see, G+ is taking the best of fb and twitter, and making it better. Google absolutly are respondig to the question: How will be a social networking service if it was invented today?, using all the power, tech, tools, and apps of Google.
Source: Twitter

NO WAY!

Chad Brack - No – I believe that, over time, FB will be the primary location for sharing with family and most non-technical friends. A ‘lightweight’ sharing. G+ will be a spot for more involved dialogue and twitter/rss-style ‘following’ of topics that interest me.
Source: Google+

Jennifer Stavros - As it stands currently: no. I will use both because both serve different purposes for me. I will also not be abandoning twitter for any of these services either. For me, Google+ is a great way to moderate the various “personalities” I have on the web in one place. Its a place for me to be more serious with my colleagues and still remain the creative with those that share those interests as well. It’s for business conversations and shared innovations. Facebook stands as a platform for connections with my closer network family of sorts. These are people whom I know personally and who can understand/enjoy the dual personality of corporate & creative. Twitter is for art and free flowing thoughts. My stream is not always as business oriented as some, depending on the hour, but it is meant to be the place where my thoughts are able to spill over a bit.
Source: Google+

Bruce Scherer - No. Google+ will be a ghetto for wonks for a while, and is not tight enough to persuade regular people to stake new territory. I’ll keep feet in both places, though.
Source: Facebook

Jean Martell Ames - No..i like the separation between fb and g+…friends and family on fb…work network on g+…i know that will change when more people join g+ but it’s so refreshing to be on g+ right now
Source: Facebook

@AiDBusiness – It would be almost impossible to give up Facebook once established there. I may spend less time on FB, for a while, however.

PLANNING TO USE BOTH

BRANDInsider.tv - I think that it’ll take some time before people actually pay attention to Google+. Facebook is king and many are used to it but Google + has already been very good at sharing and their Hangouts is awesome!It’ll take some time for it to be a true competitor with Facebook
Source: Facebook

Jeremy D’Hoinne - It’s hard to tell now. None of my non-geek friends are on G+ yet. I use Facebook mostly for close friends and family.I’ll abandon it if they use Google+, otherwise I’ll keep both.But I’ll probably give up on twitter as soon as Google+ find a way to manage collapsed comment by default and smart choice for displaying shared post (no more than once per circle for example or just mention the re share)
Source: Google+

Garrett Moon – Why bother? I get tired of this idea that one network has to die for another one to come it. How about both? I think they can both provide something different, unique, and worth while. It will keep them both and use them both. Now, that doesn’t mean G+ isn’t more fun!
Source: Google+

@JudithSoto – I haven’t played with Google+ enough to commit 100%. But I’m not a fan of Facebook because of privacy issues and I often teeter on closing my personal account. Not confident that Google would respect my privacy either, though. I’ll have to explore Google+ more
Source: Twitter

@Aaron_Emig Personally I will use both. I will use FB more for the business pages and other apps like events, notes, etc. Google+ is great for most FB users who just chat, post pics, ask for recommendations, etc. because G+ is a lot more user-friendly than FB.
Source: Twitter

SNF

Niki Nikolaou - anybody else as tired as I am on sharing so much? I don’t want to add another thingee to my list of thingees. Now I know why we die.
Source: Facebook

@chrisfauch - Facebook is dead! G+ offers a quiet and cosy ONLY place where to meet people you have to meet for your job & projects. Looking like SNF
Source: Twitter

@AAARenee – I voted SNF because since 2003 I have been exploring Social Networks, building them up to make them meaningful & finding success in different ecosystems. With the promise of every new SN I am both skeptical & hopeful. Over time it is harder & harder to pack up my social friends & convince them to go West with me for bigger & better things. Google+ for now reminds me a lot of FriendFeed, an ecosystem where the innovators & early adapters meet to discuss high level content. For that reason alone I will spend time on the site. I have no doubt that Google+ will be around for some time but I think it will be a long time before it becomes mainstream & has the audience engagement that Facebook has. It’s growth will accelerate with the right apps & social tools.
Source: Twitter

A NOTE ABOUT TWITTER

It wasn’t a question that was asked, but some respondents did say that Google+ had already claimed Twitter profiles.

Heather White-Laird - Never been a fan of facebook..too many pets and babies. But the sad part is i’m leaving twitter behind which I do love. G+ has almost my full attention these days.
Source: Google+

Dana Severson - No, but I’m considering Twitter.

Bill Hewson - no, but i have already kind of abandoned twitter

@HLeichsenring – I am thinking about changing FB to a purely private usage. In any case I am going to use my FB Page even more. G+ is right now an interesting SM experiment. I am using it besides my FB FP. Let’s see, were it will end One of the more interesting things is: will G+ be able to attack twitter… Kind regards from Germany Hansjörg
Source: Twitter

barry brown – Facebook will be how I stay in touch with family and close friends until or if they move elsewhere. My Facebook page is where my customers live and I truly don’t see that changing any time soon, but will be trying to create a community of new customers on Google+ when business profiles are introduced. I am already spending less time on Twitter and believe that platform has more to worry about than Facebook.
Source: Twitter

If you can make the time, I suggest that you read some of the other responses. They really steer the discussion in interesting directions.

Google+ 1 (Poll Round 1)

Google+ 2 (Poll Round 2)

Facebook

Twitter

Social OS

At the heart of the matter is the either or nature of Google vs. Facebook and to some extent vs. Twitter. The numbers and the supporting responses reflect passionate, frustrated and also practical views of a multifaceted discussion. Personally, I don’t believe this is an either or discussion however, at least not yet. It’s far too complex to pick up and move completely away from a social or interest graph. Investing countless hours assembling personal, professional, and also emotional pieces of who you are in real life to build a semblance of you in the digital egosystem plus the valuable relationships forged over time equates to a tangible value measured in social capital. What I do believe is worthy of exploration is a conversation that’s less about social networking and more about the notion of a social OS.

Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about the idea of social networks as hubs for the digital version of “you.” The idea was that Facebook, Twitter, and now Google+, become your attention dashboard. And through the cultivation of your social and interest graphs, the apps that further personalize the experience, and those that plug into other applications such as Web sites, documents, collaboration tools or those that translate into the real world, essentially create a social OS. Ideally, this platform eventually connects the online with the offline, creating a complete experience drive though one integrated dashboard.

If you wonder how I voted, I side with the majority of respondents. I plan on using both, learning about the cultures, dynamics, and opportunities in each to gain personal and professional value in each.

Where do you stand in this discussion. Have you made up your mind or are you planning on experimenting to see where the social tide takes you?

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+

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While there are already countless articles about Google+ and many more sharing up-to-the-minute statistics to emerge from the burgeoning network, I reserved my thoughts until now. I needed time to think about it.

Part FriendFeed, part Google Buzz, part Facebook, part Google.com and all of its properties, Google Plus represents a fresh approach to social engagement not seen at this level since the early days of Twitter. In the U.S., we have only a few top traditional TV networks, CBS, ABC, and NBC. In social networking, we now have a top three to compete for the online attention of not only Americans, but also the world–Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

The new Google is already gaining momentum. For instance, Google’s +1 button is reportedly being served 2.3 billion times a day. More than 1 billion items are shared and received per day in Google+ (or Google Plus). And, Google+ has also earned over 10 million active in a short time. While that number may seem trifling when compared to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, 10 million is nothing to wince at. In fact, in just 16 days, Google surpassed a milestone that took FourSquare two years to reach. As you can see in the image below courtesy of Leon Haland, Twitter took 780 days and Facebook 852 days to reach 10 million users. In only three weeks, Google+ hit 20 million. Adoption only continues to soar despite its exclusivity.

The only way these 10 million people joined the network was because a select few were given the privilege to invite a small set of friends. This tactic only spurs the sharing of invitations like a secret password into a deliciously trendy speakeasy. With every gushing experience shared, demand mounts. During the weekend of its debut, over one-third of all Tweets were related to Google Plus. In fact, some predict that Google Plus will become the fastest of all social networks to hit 100 million users, a new metric that appears to represent the equivalent of 0 to 60 mph (or 0 to 100 kph) in the automotive industry.

Exclusivity only goes so far however. At someone point, Google either thrives on the experience it creates or it succumbs to an all too familiar outcome, abandonment.

Google’s Concentric Circles

For years it seemed that Google couldn’t grasp the human laws that govern social networking. The intentional and unintentional spectacles of exhilaration that launched Wave, Buzz and +1 showed the world that a culture of engineering is only part of the formula required for social networking. It would take a culture of sociology, ethnography and psychology to understand the dynamics of human behavior and package them into a meaningful service that real people would embrace. It would take a team of great minds such as Chris Messina and Paul Adams, a former user experience expert at Google to realize that to +1 Facebook or Twitter, would take a novel and human approach.

Adams’ presented a very basic yet powerful explanation for how human beings connect and share with one another using Facebook as an example of the limitations that exist today. In this case, Facebook, the most popular social network with 750 million users worldwide, encourages people to build one social graph with up to 5,000 friends. In turn, Facebook offers various levers and switches to divide the social graph into a series of dedicated communities through its Lists and Groups and products.

Here, technology does not imitate life. But, you probably don’t need a social scientist to tell you that this functionality does not mirror how you connect and communicate in the real world. To Facebook’s credit though, how people connect, discover, share and talk to one another helped people evolve as digital natives and will continue to do so.

In his presentation, Adams visualized exactly what any anthropologist or sociologist might tell you, people don’t build just one social graph in real life. They cultivate a core group of 4-to-6 communities (or interest graphs) where each is focused on an aspect of one’s life, from work to BFF’s to other specific interests. Some of these communities stand the test of time, some expand and contract as people come and go, and many are merely temporary, usually based on short-term projects or curiosity.

In a study of 3,000 randomly chosen Americans, most participants maintained a strong network of only four ties. The example Adams shared on Facebook was telling and representative of the challenge many face when “networking” online today.

One user, “Debbie” demonstrated the opportunity for a more seamless form of networking. As Paul would demonstrate, the benefit of circles was evident.

1. Debbie moved from Los Angeles to San Diego.

2. Debbie was still connected to a group of friends she made when she lived in Los Angeles.

3. Some of those friends worked as bartenders in a gay bar.

4. She now also maintains a network of new friends in San Diego, where she currently lives, in the same social graph.

5. Of course, she is still in contact with her family.

6. Debbie is also an active swimmer and trains ten-year-old kids in competitive swimming. She has friended other trainers and some of the kids in her class.

In this portrait, it’s immediately clear that Debbie maintains, at least conceptually, four distinct groups. What Debbie shares on Facebook, unless she’s carefully mixed her settings, will most likely reach everyone with whom she’s connected. In Adams’ example, picture of late night fun at the gay bar where she used to work were visible to her ten-year-old students simply because Debbie would Like or comment on them. As is, it’s too confusing. At the same time, consumers aren’t necessarily thinking about segmenting their online engagement. Users want control at their fingertips, not in the settings window, to share with the groups of people contextually linked to each update. This is where Facebook Groups and Lists can improve and also where Google Plus shines right out of the gate.

Seemingly scripted for TV, but very much rooted in reality, Paul, the would be father of Google Circles, has since left Google and moved to Facebook. This is an interesting move considering his research and methodology around digital networking. His book, Social Circles, is awaiting publishing while Google decides whether or not he is permitted to release it to the public.

Google Circles its Play

Google has done something that Facebook and Twitter have failed to do, make creating groups of friends visually pleasing and also fun. In the first few hours of logging in, I immediately started creating circles related to family, friends, work, and other top and temporary interests.

People are gushing at the ability to create Circles. Time will tell if people change their behavior enough that the Google differntiator truly becomes a value proposition. Even Google Circles do not carry out Paul’s original research. While Circles distinguish networks from nicheworks, they do not account for the separation between strong, weak, and temporary ties within  each group. There are still subgroups within every group that require distinction.

For example, in each group, we maintain tiers of contacts, those we trust, those we know, and those with whom we may or may not be acquainted. What we share in these nicheworks is different in the real world than it is online. To borrow Adams’ image from his Google presentation, some may not broadcast their address or phone number across an entire group, but they might for some. As is, Google Circles still assumes top line engagement even if it’s within a focused community.

Moving forward, Google Circles will need sub-circles if it is to mimic how we engage in the real world. The question is, will people embrace it or is it simply too much work? I often think about and study how online behavior affects offline self esteem and character. Even though we maintain circles in real life, we’ve been conditioned to seek simplicity in online engagement. Remember, many of the groups we create in real life are often temporary. To mimic this behavior online introduces complexity I’m not sure people are actively seeking. There may be greater value in mass peer-to-peer engagement for a majority of social updates. Having the ability to share exclusive content with a fixed subset of any community is helpful, but most likely representative of a minority of overall engagement. That’s just a hypothesis however. Again, time will tell.

What’s clear is that the elegance and ease of creating Circles is enough to get people talking. It may prove beneficial enough to generate demand for similar functionality within Facebook and perhaps Twitter. Keep in mind that Facebook employees are an elite squad of developers and thinkers. It acquired FriendFeed and also Beluga among many other services to improve, I assume, how people communicate with one another within their social and interest graphs. There is more to see from Facebook on this front.

The Human Algorithm

I’ve always believed that the social Web will give way to a socioeconomic hierarchy of sorts which I dubbed PeopleRank or People Rank (sorry TechCrunch, that was me.) The idea is that everyday people would complement the digital algorithms of the web to amplify content they find interesting or useful related to the context of their search or discovery. Even though Twitter offers its Retweet button and Facebook users can Like content to boost visibility within the network’s social stream, Google’s +1 introduces everyday people to the idea of flagging great content across the entire Web.

If you’re logged into Google, the results are curated based on the activity of your friends. At some point, +1 will apply a layer of PeopleRank to content and destinations similar to the way it does so today with PageRank. It represents a natural fusion of SEO and SMO. To counter this, Facebook must boost the discoverability of content without upsetting its delicate privacy balance.

Data Portability

Who owns your personal data in your social network today? The answer most of the time is the network. For years people and businesses have invested time, resources, and also money into cultivating the right network, curating valuable content, organizing special events, and bookmarking interesting commentary and destinations. At the moment, much of this content is locked away never to see the light of any other system. Google is taking a somewhat open approach allowing users to export their contacts and data. Today, Google is experimenting with a service called Google Takeout. This handy feature allows people to export a list of sites that they’ve +1’d.

Of course this is something that’s developing over time, but it is important. My friends over at DataPortability.org have been fighting this fight for quite some time. I believe that in the evolution of Google+ and Facebook, data portability will become paramount. It will take a concentration of user demand to move networks toward a more proactive and open approach.

Google Brand Pages

Due to overwhelming demand from businesses, Google+ will introduce an early version of its Brand Pages. Initially, Google removed business-related pages only to invite them into a test phase that will officially welcome a manageable stable of companies to test and help to improve the experience. Brands see this as a tremendous opportunity for direct-to-consumer engagement. On Facebook, some brands have earned more than 30 million Likes creating a dedicated brand network not yet seen in previous media.

For example, the Top 20 brands by the numbers on Facebook boast impressive audiences:

1. Coca Cola (31,762,653)
2. Disney (26,613,752)
3. Starbucks (23,574,606)
4. Oreo (21,864,091)
5. Red Bull (21,220,373)
6. Converse All Star (19,880,308)
7. Converse (18,977,840)
8. Skittles (18,386,827)
9. Playstation (16,245,633)
10. iTunes (15,862,234)
11. Pringles (14,765,300)
12. Victoria’s Secret(14,384,903)
13. Window’s Live Messenger (13,926,945)
14. Ferrero Rocher (11,676,898)
15. Monster Energy (11,492,620)
16. Nutella (10,696,260)
17. iPod (10,530,905)
18. Adidas Originals (10,433,947)
19. Xbox (10,388,218)
20. Dr Pepper (9,927,828)

Ford Motor Company was one of the first companies to build a page and in an impressive move, asked people what they expected from the company. Ford’s Scott Monty and team will then build a dedicated engagement strategy for Google+ that I would hope differs from its approach on Facebook and Twitter. Dell is working on expanding its renown social service model by bringing its team to where a customer’s attention is focused.  Google+ seems like a natural extension given its early momentum. When in doubt, ask. That’s just what Michael Dell did recently. And, over 800 people seemed to genuinely support the idea.

Brands must realize that the culture within each network and the corresponding expectations of its denizens are unique to the network as well as to the nature of their connections. Far too many brands have already lost sight of this important pillar of engagement contributing to either social blindness or an intentional unlike or unfollow. Perhaps Google+ will serve as a reminder that brands must embrace a philosophy of networking with purpose. What’s key to any consumer engagement strategy in Google+ is to recognize that brands aren’t generally categorized with all of the other Liked pages as in Facebook. In Google+, brands will require a social vs. anti-social approach. Why? Because consumers will categorize brands by various circles based on the nature of the relationship as well as the level of expected communication and value. Brands on Facebook and Twitter should also take note. Eventually, consumers will stop following brands that do not consistently deliver some form of tangible or even intangible value.

Culture and Flow

Speaking of culture, the sensation of engagement in Google+ is vibrant. Buzz is in the air and much of it is warranted. Many of my friends on Google+ are those I view as my inner circle. Google+ is a wonderful way to stay current with their work and observations. But with Circles, I’m also able to tune my stream based on the relevance of context at the moment. The real-time flow of Google+ is also dynamic. It keeps me engaged to the point where I find myself consuming or curating information at much greater ratios than creating original content.

Is it densely populated with the usual suspects? Of course it is. But, keep in mind that these early champions have helped make Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and all of the other emerging “social” technologies what they are today. Their public observations, reviews, and recommendations contribute to the expansion and improvement of each network.

The ability to reply to individual comments is more than missing. I believe it’s a missed opportunity. But still, threaded conversations, like in Facebook, are appreciated over the continuous, but still addictive flow of Twitter. That’s what Google+ is about, continuous engagement and sharing that hums at a different, not necessarily better, frequency than Facebook. For posts that will yield higher-than-average engagement, I also appreciate the ability to mute only that particular stream when I’ve moved on to other discussions. It’s a nice touch.

Rich conversations can move from the stream and into a 10-person Hangout, a video chat that brings the conversation alive in a fulfilling way not seen in other social networks to date. Notably missing is the incorporation of hashtags. Although Chris Messina, largely recognized of the father of Twitter hashtags, is leading development on the Google+ project, he does acknowledge its importance in Google+. He is also currently looking into integration strategies.

This is after all a very public field test. And, Google is listening to improve the experience.

Social Networks: Your Social OS

Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about the idea of social networks as hubs for the digital version of “you.” The idea was that Facebook, Twitter, and now Google+, become your attention dashboard. And through the cultivation of your social and interest graphs, the apps that further personalize the experience, and those that plug into other applications such as Web sites, documents, collaboration tools or those that translate into the real world, essentially create a social OS. Ideally, this platform eventually connects the online with the offline, creating a complete experience drive though one integrated dashboard.

With the rise of Facebook, users have been introduced to the idea of networking and also the potential for personal and professional collaboration. I wondered when Google might respond with a complete social platform and it appears that Google+ is officially its answer.

Google+ and the ability to become the only place you need to communicate, collaborate, share, discover, and work, creates a social OS that is promising to the say the least. I believe that in the long run, Facebook and Google will compete as a Social OS for all you do online. Think about it. From sharing and collaborating on documents, grouping and coordinating work or activity steams, housing email, hosting phone or video chats, managing geo location, to search, Google and Facebook are already on a significant collision course.

Communication:

- Gmail vs. Facebook.com email

- Google Voice vs. Facebook/Skype

- Google Huddle vs. Facebook/Skype

Sharing:

- Like vs. +1

- Digital memories such as photos, events, and videos

Collaboration:

- Google Docs vs. Facebook/Microsoft 365Live

Location:

- Google Lattitude vs. Facebook Places

Search/Discovery

- Google.com vs. Facebook/Microsoft Search

Social Commerce:

- Google Deals vs. Facebook Deals

- Google Wallet vs. Facebook Credits

Mobile

- Android, iPhone (Smartphones), iPad (Tablets)

Entertainment

- Gamification

- Apps

This is an area of particular interest to me. Our attention dashboards will offer a much more integrated experience where collaboration and productivity increase as the vision of each network crystallizes. I’m sure your management team or IT department will appreciate hearing this news.

This is Just the Beginning

As the headline reads, I don’t believe Google Plus is a Facebook killer. While the audience has set the stage for a great duel between the Internet’s Goliath and the social web’s Goliath–I’m not sure Facebook could be viewed as David any longer–there will be no fight today. That doesn’t mean however that we won’t see the pair in a Roman coliseum battling to become the social OS for humanity. But for the near future, Google and Facebook are together helping the world socialize outside of the inbox. Competition, or the semblance of it, is healthy for everyone, especially us.

The key difference is that Facebook is operating under a mission to improve how the world connects and communicates. Mark Zuckerberg is steering his ship in a particular direction. Myspace co-founder Tom Anderson humbly wondered aloud whether or not “social” is in Google’s DNA or in Google+ for that matter. I’m not sure I get a clear idea of Google’s vision for social yet or if it even exists. Vision, mission, direction, these are powerful beacons to lead any industry, and besides this official memo and an attractive bonus structure, Google may need to circle its leadership team to think through human algorithms.

Nonetheless, Google Plus is inviting. It’s intriguing. It is promising. What it is not, is the end game. Google is however pressuring the hyper-connected us, to spread ourselves all the thinner to learn where and how to spend our time within the mix of all the other networks.

We’re learning.

We’re adapting.

Evolution is perpetual.

Social networks will continually iterate and innovate. That’s part of what makes this so exciting. The question remains however, is social in Google’s DNA or culture? Without it, Google might have +1′d for now, but without social studies, the new social darling might become unliked by the masses. In the end, you are the best judge of what works for you. The answer may be for the time being, that many networks prove their value in different ways. Google+ certainly offers early advantages, but this is a long journey. Much of the success of any network will be linked to any team that listens and adapts. Therefore, your experience is more important to the future of networking than you may think.

UPDATE 1: Google+ for iPhone is now available.

UPDATE 2: REPORT: How Google Plus Stacks Up Against Facebook – Interesting statistics

UPDATE 3: Google+ acquires Fridge. A clue from founder Austin Chang…”Right now, Google+ is asymmetric, we’re going to help them create shared spaces.”

UPDATE 4: Google+mishandled business accounts in the beginning and will now expedite business pages

UPDATE 5: Google+ Social Gaming Network confirmed and is on the way

UPDATE 6: Google+ pulls in 20 million in 3 weeks

UPDATE 7: Google’s stock has now gone up 27.85% since the launch of Google+ via @emilychangtv

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+

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The New ENGAGE!: If you’re looking to FIND answers in social media and not short cuts, consider either the Deluxe or Paperback edition

I was recently interviewed by Israel’s BuzzInNews about new media and business. The conversation was translated from Hebrew to English, to share with you here as well. The discussion explores the evolution of social media in business from attention economics to B2B to ROI and concluding with a discussion of the brewing cold war between Google and Facebook.

As an expert on New Media, could you provide an insight to what the difference is between New Media and Social Media? Do you think “New Media” is still new, or perhaps we should replace the word “New” with another word? If so, what word would that be and why?

That’s the thing about new media, it’s always new…Social media is just a chapter in the ongoing story of new media. For example, check-ins, augmented reality, swipes that trigger events, are all forms of new media. Social emerged as a category to document the rise of interactive platforms, channels and services that gave way to the democratization of information.

In your new book “Engage!” you talk about Attention Economics, and deem attention as a scarce and finite resource. What would you recommend Social Media agencies do in order to capture the attention of people’s attention?

Competing for attention is the problem with marketing and media and real-time media only heightens the problem. Competing for attention is similar to competing for the moment. By moving and reacting, we’re not investing in the legacy of the brand nor its presence within new digital societies. It’s real-time vs. right time + right place. Attention is only thinning for the near future and the only way to capture attention is through scale. Rather than 1 to 1 engagement, we need to focus on the opportunities where 1 + 1 = many. Recognition and empowerment are the secrets to scale. Giving reasons for people to not only consume and interact with the brand or related content, but share it is how we can earn recurring attention. The future of marketing lies in shared experiences.

Companies are still reluctant to utilizing Facebook/SM for B2B activity. Many of them question the added value to revenue. What would your advice be?

My advice is true for social media and any other aspect in business. We need to first research where desirable individuals are interacting and who it is that influences them. Then we work backwards from there. In many B2B cases, I’ve found that Facebook is not where resources should focus, instead blogs, LinkedIn, and discussion groups have proved more productive and lucrative. Everything begins with gathering intelligence.

How can success in a social media program be measured?

You can’t measure what it is you do not value. We often hear the debate about ROI, yet so very few people are qualified to address it in a way that appeases executives. It’s impossible to measure the ROI for something if we haven’t first established the R (Return) or the I (Investment). Even though social media is inexpensive or free or relatively inexpensive to host a presence, time and resources still maintain fixed costs. And, if we enhance our presences or apply greater resources, the investment goes up exponentially. The true challenge here however, is the need to first design outcomes into the equation. What do we want to accomplish? What’s the return we seek? Are we trying to sell, change, drive, cause, or inspire something specific? Are we reducing customer problems as measured by inbound volume, open tickets, public discourse? Are we trying to shift sentiment to a more positive state that increases referrals as a result? While parts of social media are purely designed for branding purposes, like direct marketing and online advertising, programs can also be designed to trigger desirable outcomes. How are you converting attention and clicks to a measurable return? Finding the answer will reveal that ROI and metrics exist at the program and departmental level and travel all the way to the top. And, they’re unique at every step of the way. Think about this and then revisit the ROI discussion.

Google vs. Facebook – what search will prevail? Do you think Facebook’s search will take off? Has Google got anything to fear? Will Google go social?

The media is currently focusing on search vs. social. I believe this is actually less about Google vs. Facebook and more about the traditional online consumer vs. the emerging role of the connected or social consumer. This comes down to behavior and the support systems connected consumers are building around themselves. How they find information, share experiences, and make decisions are different. Gigya published a report last year that demonstrates how the two groups approach search. Combining this with my research, traditional consumers and also connected consumers take to Google to search. When it comes down to making a decision however, social consumers take to their feeds to see who’s talking about the topic and to also seek input from their social graph. As social search evolves within Facebook for example, social consumers may forgo Google to stay within the realm of their network. When initiating a search, results qualified by peers take a lot of the extra work out of the process.

If we look at Google’s approach to search, well, it’s integrating social media and the social graph into search results. But Google is losing its appeal as a destination amongst the connected consumer. Therefore Google is exploring social and the much rumored Google Me, to weave a fabric that connects people and information through social graphs and also the world wide web. Competing for the social consumer will reveal a winner. More here: The Next Cold War: Google vs. Facebook.

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook

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Among the many hats I wear, I’m a design and business adviser to several technology startups. However, in certain circumstances, I take a more prominent role to help develop the products and services that I need in my work. Over the years, I’ve developed a working relationship with PeopleBrowsr and serve as the company’s Chief Data Analyst. Together, we’ve issued several reports and will continue to do that and more.

Today, I would like to introduce you to a product that we’ve been developing for a couple of years now…ReSearch.ly. To begin with, I am a big fan and a customer of several leading intelligence and listening services. ReSearch.ly is different and is a complementary solution for not only your workflow today, but how you will approach social media in the immediate future.

The whiteboard image above was captured from a working session where you can see the unique attributes of ReSearch.ly as well as the disconnects that we now “connect.” First off, ReSearch.ly is for brand managers as well as new media experts in marketing, advertising, and communications.

From Social Graph to Interest Graph

Let’s start at the beginning. ReSearch.ly is not a Twitter search engine. Nor is it designed as a monitoring solution. ReSearch.ly is a window to relevance and engagement…revealing your path to imparting and earning it. Everything begins with intelligence and that insight inspires meaningful, targeted, and desirable outcomes.  Instead of exploring real-time conversations based on keywords, ReSearch.ly allows businesses to visualize their interest graph.

Social Graphs are transforming into what I refer to as “nicheworks“, where people are connected more by a shared interest than by who they know. ReSearch.ly, along with Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, Trends, and Accounts, officially usher in the era of interest graphs. While a social graph is defined by the individual connections one maintains in online networks, Interest graphs represent the network of individuals bound by shared themes expressed publicly – in this case, through keywords on Twitter.

The challenge is clear; in order to effectively engage, you have to first understand what people are saying about your brand, competitors and any associated areas of interest. In short, you must understand what truly matters to the community in order to identify the community. For brands, interest graphs form the pillars of genuine and beneficial engagement… and that’s where ReSearch.ly comes in.

Interest graphs are tied to keywords. As a result, they form dedicated communities where the individual nodes within each network differ from graph to graph. Collectively however, these distinct interest graphs form a brand graph when combined.

Brands + Social Consumers + Influencers = Brand Graph

From Real-Time to Instant

Much in the same way Google search is moving from real-time to “instant,” PeopleBrowsr is doing this for Twitter and the Tweets that form the foundation for interest graphs. Like Google and websites, ReSearch.ly has indexed Twitter. With over 100 million Tweets flying across Twitter daily, the population of Tweets is colossal. But ReSearch.ly is the only intelligence solution with memory. It is your Library of Congress, housing the history of Tweets to open a window into the social web, revealing a wealth of demographic data, sentiment analysis, real-time and historical mentions, and viral analytics for any keyword.

Instant Demographic and Psychographic Analytics

The process begins by entering keywords of interest — whether it’s your company name, product, competitor or any topic. ReSearch.ly first identifies people who are talking about a particular interest, and then instantly drills down to uncover rich data about that Interest Graph, including location, sentiment, gender as well as related word clouds, hashtags, links, @names, et al.  ReSearch.ly performs 40 simultaneous searches for any topic and delivers the results almost instantly. This data gives brand managers the ability to target specific demographic segments (i.e. women in the San Francisco area) with much needed granularity and simplicity. ReSearch.ly also provides up to the second charts depicting mentions count and sentiment for any keyword. People can even click on a chart point for any keyword to see every related tweet back in time

Degrees of Separation

Research shows that on Twitter, the world is quite literally becoming a much smaller place. ReSearch.ly doesn’t just surface the interest graph, it visualizes the degrees of separation between your brand and the people you’re trying to reach. This allows brands to structure engagement programs based on the priority of relationships based on digital proximity.

Viral Analytics

Did you know that the lifespan of the most active Retweets is roughly one hour? Any keywords in ReSearch.ly can be turned into a comprehensive analytics platform on the fly.  Viral analytics track how information spreads on Twitter, showing where information starts, who propels it, and its overall reach.

Additionally, viral analytics provide access to three years of historical and also real-time data for any keyword. There is no other solution available that can do so…Real-time reports are viewable within the dashboard and are also downloadable as PDFs.

Reports include:

Top Bit.ly links

Conversation density

Mentions

Top influencers (powered by Klout) with sentiment

Sentiment

Words surrounding keywords

Retweets, reach and path

Here’s an example of Viral Analytics for Starbucks.

Additional Examples of Brand Scenarios:

1. I want to connect with Mommy Bloggers in SF or interested in human rights — http://research.ly/human%20rights/global/Mommy%20Bloggers

2. I want to find all the good things being said about Coke and all the bad things about Pepsi — http://cocacola.analytic.ly/

3. I would love to see all the most popular RT and their viral hierarchy — http://research.ly/help/US/all/toprt

ReSearch.ly starts at $99/month per user. Enterprise and White label versions of the platform are also available.

With communities growing around ideas or interests, rather than through social connections, engagement is emphasized on finding and generating contextualized content. Brands understand they need to engage customers often while cultivating communities, and they are constantly looking for ways to efficiently participate in relevant conversations. ReSearch.ly is designed to help establish trusted, real-time connections, within the context of fluid conversations.

ReSearch.ly is your GPS for social media’s critical path – Relevance > Resonance > Significance.

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Facebook

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In 2007 I said that Facebook would be the home page for your personal brand. Now it seems that Facebook is officially setting out to become your homepage period.

The other day I logged into Facebook and noticed a new message at the top of the screen. I was presented with a simple way to make Facebook my homepage so that I could see “what’s happening with friends as soon as I opened my browser.”  And, I’m not the only one.

Why am I taking the time to let you know that Facebook is making it easy for you to drag and drop Facebook to your home button?

Facebook started out as a social network, but it is officially growing into a full-fledged personal OS, where friends and experiences are interconnected inside and outside of Facebook. And, at the center of everything is you. Facebook is a platform where relationships create the construct for the 3C’s of information commerce. The acts of sharing and consuming content in social media represent the social dealings between people and set the stage for interaction and education.But, it is the platform that offers a sandbox for development and also a solid foundation for social architecture. It is the sites that feature Facebook interconnects that weave the fabrics of relationships and the ties and interests that bind us.

More than one million websites have integrated with Facebook Platform.

150 million people engage with Facebook on external websites every month.

Two-thirds of comScore’s U.S. Top 100 websites and half of comScore’s Global Top 100 websites have integrated with Facebook.

The more we interact with Facebook around the Web through Likes, Shares, and Comments, the more we feed the social effect and the greater the personalization inside Facebook and within its partner sites.

Indeed, according to comScore, Facebook traffic soared by 55.2% hitting 151.1 million in October 2010, up from 97.4 visitors at the same time last year. It’s also important to note that Facebook was home to 300 million active denizens last year and now it has a population of more than 550 million. While Google is earning 173.3 million visits in the U.S., Facebook’s trajectory is only gaining in mass and force. And it’s only gaining momentum…

- 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day

- The average user has 130 friends

- People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

Don’t Google Me, Facebook Me

Over the years, Google has missed steps to foster a social network of its own, perhaps focusing on a culture of code rather than human culture and behavior. What lies ahead is a quiet war where  your social graph is at stake. Facebook is taking large steps to move you away from Google and toward the social web.  As this new “homepage” request rolls out to active users worldwide, we will see many follow Facebook’s instruction to now make the social graph the starting point to their online experience each and every time they fire up their browser. Doing so changes behavior and teaches us that we can indeed get a little help from our friends by leaning on them for empowerment, entertainment, and enlightenment.

We don’t take to Google for insight, we  now take to the stream…

What’s materializing before us may in fact represent the beginning of the end of the Google era of Web domination. This is the rise of the Facebook economy (F-commerce) where commerce represents the currency of information and engagement and the net worth of the relationships we nurture. While it doesn’t beat the drum in its march toward online supremacy, Facebook is in fact setting out to help you improve the way you communicate, discover, and share. Since you are at the center of the social egosystem, Facebook is designing products and services that make managing and interacting with your social graph more efficient.

From Gmail to Facebook.com > We now have a new messaging platform on its way to us with @facebook.com email addresses yours for the taking. It changes how we think about messages and exchanges and may in fact, encourage us to follow Zuckerberg’s vision away from the traditional inbox. By integrating messaging into one system that connects through multiple clients and devices, Facebook also starts to minimize the value of Google Talk. Does Google turn its 193 million Gmail users out of the inbox and toward a social network…something like say, GoogleMe? Now with its social hooks in MySpace, Google must revisit its human algorithm.

From Google.com to Facebook search > The future of search is social and we are already investing in social media optimization (SMO) in addition to SEO. We can’t underestimate Facebook search. Google has long dominated search and the behemoth of a company is showing its age and its weaknesses. Even though Google is experimenting with integrating social into traditional search results, its algorithm is in dire need of a human touch – a human algorithm. At the same time, Facebook is slowly but surely improving its search feature. What used to simply display results within the network, now starts to feature results from around the Web where the displayed list is curated by the actions of your friends – as part of the platform. This will only improve and become more substantial in the coming months.

From Google Voice to Facebook + Skype > Google Voice is a valuable service that combines voice, Web, and email. While it’s not getting thunderous roars of attention, Skype and Facebook are introducing the ability to call friends directly from the News Feed. As this integration becomes seamless and demand for such a service gains awareness and pervasiveness, Facebook and Skype will rival Google Voice one day.

From Google Latitude to Facebook Places > Google is experimenting with geo location, but Facebook Places is gaining mass adoption. Competing for attention online and offline is helping Facebook merge experiences and channel the activity into the News Feed.

From Google Groups to Facebook Groups > Google Groups was once one of the Web greatest hosts for contextual networks, groups organized by interests, events, and causes. Now with the release of the new and improved Facebook Groups, people are forming nicheworks, networks within networks. Their focused activity is enhanced by a dedicated group framework that fosters collaboration and conversation whether the group unites relationships or actions linked by strong, weak, or temporary ties.

From Google Docs to Facebook + Microsoft Office > Google Docs are the industry standard for Web collaboration around documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and artistic canvases. While the world was abuzz with Facebook’s messaging service, Microsoft introduced Office Web Apps as part of the new messaging system. The technology alliance allows people to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint attachments with the Office Web Apps directly in Facebook. It just the beginning of something more productive…

Twitter Me This…The Facebook Generation

And what of Twitter? I believe it is the moon that orbits a networked planet. It turns the tides. It defines its rotation.

Twitter is your window to relevance, but Facebook is your homepage for the social Web.

According to recent data released by Hitwise, Facebook accounts for 25% of all page views in the U.S. And it’s only going to skyrocket as we interact with content and one another through the Facebook platform. Depending on which data we review, Google is either in Facebook’s rearview mirror or in its sights. Hitwise claims Facebook has already surpassed Google in terms of views. Earlier we stated that comScore has Facebook nipping at Google’s heels. Either way, it’s just a matter of time until Facebook traffic surpasses Google with tenable data supporting the historic milestone.

We are witnessing the dawn of the social consumer and their network of preference for the immediate future is Facebook.

As I’ve previously observed, the medium is no longer just the message. In social, the medium is the platform and as such, people now represent both the medium and the message where reach is defined by a blending of the social graph, the context of the story and the expansion and contraction of strong, weak, and temporary connections. The Facebook platform serves as the foundation for our Social OS and in turn, we are its driving force. With every action, we trigger an equal and opposite reaction. With our relationships serving as Facebook’s construct, we are realizing that the social graph effect may in fact, spark greater volumes of reaction than Google, or any of us, may have anticipated. Welcome to the Facebook generation…the question is, will you call Facebook home?

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Facebook announced a new platform for Facebook Groups recently. Rather than jump into the fray to share my immediate reactions, I opted to instead allow the news and its promise settle.

Like many, my initial reaction was that of disappointment. After all, I was almost immediately bombarded with emails notifying me that I was added to groups where I did not request nor authorize membership. Plus, I was subsequently hammered with email updates as new group members added their commentary to the various group walls.

But was this Facebook’s fault or the fault of trigger happy enthusiasts?

Indeed, Facebook was forcing us to opt-out rather than opt-in. While many expressed otherwise, what was clear, is that this move is exactly what Facebook intended. In order to grow Facebook adoption and incite deeper engagement with the platform, it would have to further push us outside of our comfort zones. And, that’s the point. If Facebook waited for us to adopt new features, its rate of growth and new adoption would lose inertia. In a world where our attention is captivated by all things real-time, Facebook as a business and as an platform would become vulnerable.

Zuckerberg was clear. He put the power of group creation and member curation in the hands of the individual. Without doing so, Groups would not realize its full potential.

As Zuckerberg explained, “You try to make it as easy as possible and give people control. It’s very easy to turn a group off. Also there’s really this self-selection. You’ll interact with groups that have a lot of interaction within them. Whereas a group like that, maybe it’ll grow, but then what. If you have a group for your family, your roommates, your classmates or something that’s actually useful. The product is designed so that the groups you actually use go to the top of the home page. The other ones will just fall away. ”

The idea of self-selection is almost precipitated by a sense of selection. In many cases, we are chosen for groups and similarly, we choose certain individuals for the groups we create. As in anything, this must be done with discretion. And if we’ve learned anything over the years with email lists, many individuals prefer to opt-in to communication. To help prevent Groups and their organizers from eliciting a form of chaos theory, some very interesting measures were introduced.

Yes, you can add someone from your social graph to a Group, but if that person leaves the group, you lose the ability to automatically add that person back. Consider a personal invitation to join instead. As I’ve always expressed, “With social media, comes great responsibility.”

Per Matt Hicks at Facebook in response to this post…

Once you leave a group, you can’t be added again by anyone to that specific group.  This doesn’t change what your friend can or can’t do with regard to other groups. What’s most important are the social norms around inviting friends to Groups that you point out in your post. Although people don’t lose the ability to add friends to other groups, they need to consider the impact that adding a friend will have on that person.

Just because we have the ability to invite people into Groups or to check them into Places, we have to consider the social costs of doing so.

What is the impact of this action on my relationship with this individual?

Does adding them to this Group or checking them into this location hurt or help the stature and value of my position?

As an online society of social denizens, we typically underestimate the potential of social networking and the economy that governs it. Social capital is more valuable than we realize and the currency that determines its net worth is represented by our individual social actions and how they accumulate in the short and long term.

This is your time to define who you are and the value you behold…

Groups Usher an Era of Social Nicheworks

The most interesting aspect of social networks as they exist today is that they’re structured around you. As such, the infrastructure that supports your social graph places your updates and activity at the center of your social graph. While you’re given elementary controls to select who sees what, the majority of status updates are published for everyone. As you and I know, that’s simply not at all how human interaction works in the real world.

The real life social network is designed to facilitate the creation and cultivation of discreet social graphs.  The people who populate each and also what we say and do is different across each group.

Paul Adams works on the UX team at Google. He recently gave a presentation (slides here) that discussed the idea of contextual networking, which actually led to the speculation of whether or not we were getting a glimpse of Google’s rumored social network, Google Me.

His presentation is the result of years of research in how people network online and offline. And, it demonstrates the need for us to intentionally channel our activity in its most favorable directions.

The example he shared was that of a user named “Debbie.” Here are some of his slides and experiences…

Debbie is still connected to a group of friends she made when she lived in Los Angeles.

She now also maintains a network of new friends in San Diego, where she currently lives, in the same social graph.

Of course, she is still in contact with her family.

Debbie is also an active swimmer and trains ten year old kids in competitive swimming. She has friended other trainers and some of the kids in her class.

In L.A., some of Debbie’s friends work in a gay bar. They share photos on Facebook of wild and memorable nights in the bar.

Debbie loves the pictures and often comments on them.

By nature of design, the 10 year old kids that have friended Debbie can also see her activity as well as the pictures she’s commented on.

Debbie realized, for the first time, that the kids could see this activity and she was upset at herself for not realizing this earlier. She blamed the system for letting it happen.

As Paul observed, the problem isn’t Facebook. The problem is that one social network does not represent how we “network” in real life and exposes discreet groups to one another intentionally or unintentionally.

In reality, we do not have one group of friends. Nor should we have only one social graph. We maintain networks of friends, peers, associates, family and each are governed by varying levels of interest, themes, intimacy, and expectations.

According to Paul’s work at Google, people tend to have between 4 and 6 real life groups.

And each of those groups tends to have between 2 and 10 people.

In social networking, the patterns appear to be very similar. While social networks such as Facebook and Twitter make it easier to connect, we still maintain relationships (strong ties) and also “relations” (weak ties).  What’s changing, is the abundance of weak ties, driven by context and interest. This is also a reflection of the intermingling of our personal and professional contacts.

According to Paul, a study of 3,000 randomly chose Americans showed that we maintained just four strong times. Many held between two to six.

A separate study of 1,178 adults found that on average, people maintained regular contact with 10 friends on a weekly basis.

On Facebook, the average size of the social graph is 130. Studies show that the vast majority of Facebook users interact regularly with 4 to 6 people.

As the size of social graphs increases, we’re introduced to the idea of temporary ties. We’re introduced to these fleeting relationships through projects, events, or other circumstances where communication results, but usually dissipates for various reasons.

Facebook Groups gives us the ability to create nicheworks for the different audiences with which we’d like to communicate. And in many cases, other participants require the same group to collaborate.

As such, privacy is now a process of boundary management. It is in our control to define how much other people know about us, what they see, and the impressions they form.

Nicheworking with a Purpose

In 2007, I advised and helped launch a company focused on productivity and collaboration, but rather than focus on threads, it designed projects around transforming social networks. The company was later acquired and shuttered – within its first year of operation.  The reason I share this story with you is that it was very similar to how the new Facebook Groups approaches networking and collaboration.

Facebook Groups represents something much more meaningful than groups for idle chatter; they are platform for improving relationships, communication, and productivity in controlled environments.

When starting a group or project, you choose who you would like to invite and as such, create a dedicated social network (or a nichework) to host undistracted interaction.

In the past, Facebook has attempted to introduce what it referred to as “naive solutions” to facilitate social nicheworking. With the introduction of lists, according to Zuckerberg, less than 5 percent of users took advantage of this option. Groups reduces the barrier to entry and it keeps interaction and engagement focused on short term and long term tasks with those who define strong, weak or temporary ties and the degree of relationships we maintain around the different groups we host online and offline.

Groups represents the future of social networking. We can design groups where we communicate, collaborate, and co-create with purpose, whether it’s personally or professionally. But, for the time being, we can do so in a network we can learn, in real-time, how to take control of our online presence and the social graphs we choose to cultivate.

Please read this post for “All you need to know about Facebook Groups.”

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In March 2010, Facebook emerged as the top search term at Google, Bing, and Yahoo according to Experian Hitwise. Bing reported that 2.6% of all searches were dedicated to Facebook with Google at 1.17%.

To say that Facebook is capturing the minds and search boxes of people in the U.S. and around the world would be a gross understatement.

Facebook wasn’t only the top search term in America, again, according to Experian Hitwise, it was also the most visited website for a week in the days ending 2009 and beginning 2010. With an increase of 185% in the last year, Facebook accomplished something truly remarkable, if for only but a moment, it beat Google Search as the top destination online. It should also not go unsaid, that combined, Facebook and Google accounted for 14% of all US Internet visits during the week of March 8th, 2010.

However, as a denizen of a global online society, it would be prudent to examine how Facebook performs as a province in the worldwide Web.

In the State of Social Media Around the World published earlier this year, we learned that Facebook emerged as the dominant social network in 100 out of 127 countries measured. Italian new media observer Vincenzo Cosenza created the following graphic to offer a visual representation of Facebook’s rise to global prominence.

Facebook’s stature around the world is indeed remarkable. It is the first truly social media property to garner this prestigious status. Understanding its performance online as a destination rather than as a social network however, offers clearer perspective. With Facebook traffic soaring in the U.S., Pingdom recently analyzed how Facebook performs against other sites around the world using data from Alexa.

Of the top 20 countries sorted by the number of Internet users, Facebook.com earned the top spot in the Philippines and Indonesia, which equates to roughly 5%. Google, in its various flavors, surfaced on top in 14 countries, equaling 70%.

Facebook’s meteoric rise as a social network with over 400 million users has also proven to become a force in the Web overall. In the United States, Facebook is the number 2 site of course. Around the world, Facebook is also gaining ground within the UK (currently #2), Germany (#3), France, (#2), Italy (#2), Spain (#2) and Canada (#2). It’s worthy to note, in China, Facebook is absent from the top 500. With over 300 million users, QQ sits in the top spot as the prime social/mobile network and Baidu ranks number one as the top destination in the country.

Facebook is far from reaching its potential and as its new “Like” architecture hits the WWW with over 50,000 publishers already in place, its 400 million strong army of social curators will only increase its relevance around the world.

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In 2009, Google struck a deal with Twitter, rumored at $15 million, to integrate tweets into keyword related Google searches. And last month, Google also integrated real-time search technology to surface blog posts and news content as they hit the Web – dramatically improving the previous five to 15 minutes its spiders would take to crawl the Web. I should also note that Collecta also offers the ability to search the real-time Web, but its results also include popular networks within the social Web. Between Google and Collecta, Twitter Search is starting to show its age.

The opportunities and benefits of accessing the real-time Web also represent its most notable deficiencies – the ability to truly focus the stream of cascading information into a river of relevance. Companies such as My6Sense are using a form of “digital intuition” to escalate tweets that match our patterns, behavior, and content we read.

We are now staring in the face of a more sophisticated era of real-time search that will further advance, localize and personalize over time. And, everything starts with the experimentation of sophisticated algorithms that filter and rank the content we’re hoping to discover.

For example, Google recently adapted its PageRank technology for surfacing related tweets. PageRank was originally developed to help find relevant Web pages through traditional search and was Google’s primary differentiation in a world of commodity search platforms. Essentially, Google’s PageRank assesses the importance of Web pages tied to keywords based on link structure. Authority is determined by the quantity and quality of inbound links to each page as well as the branches of outlying link relationships that tie other pages to those within the first degree of inbound connections. In other words, the more links to a page and the more linkers to each link, the greater the value of the original page.

The challenge with real-time search is tying tweets or other social content to notable producers and their networks of reputed followers and sub-follower architectures.

In an interview with Technology Review, Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow who led development of real-time search, said “You earn reputation, and then you give reputation. If lots of people follow you, and then you follow someone–then even though this [new person] does not have lots of followers, his tweet is deemed valuable because his followers are themselves followed widely.

As Singhal emphasized, “It is definitely, definitely more than a popularity contest.”

Google also examines the signal in the noise, to surface the most relevant tweets related to common as well as obscure subjects. And as Twitter itself advances the technology that packages tweets, such as geo-location data, we can expect to see a rapid evolution of real-time search.

Basically, a follower is the equivalent of one page linking to another on the Web. Google recognizes each as a form of recommendation. So as higher quality pages link to sources, the original page increases in value. In the Social Web, reputed users who follow other users inherently increase the stature of the individual to whom they connect.

Searching for a particular keyword now will produce qualified results for Web pages and also content published in Twitter and other social networks, ranked by the authority of the page and publisher of social objects as assessed by PageRank technology.

In the eyes of Google, the adaptation of PageRank for Social Media essentially creates a human algorithm or a PeopleRank of sorts that may eventually serve as a foundation for also assessing the authority of an individual in the social Web.

Other companies are also introducing new services to measure general authority for individuals online. Klout, for example, developed a sophisticated platform for measuring the influence of users in Twitter. Based on three sophisticated stages of semantic calculation (True Reach, Amplification Probability, Network Value) Klout can determine not only the level of influence of any user on Twitter but also the most influential voices tied to topics or keywords. Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, is also including tweets in its real-time search feed and could, for instance, integrate Klout’s influence engine to rank tweets and other social objects to qualify results.

But while the idea of ranking influence on the social web is interesting and necessary, it is far from perfected. Running searches in either engine today will only reinforce this sentiment. However, with that said, it is helping us by reducing the obstacles that typically prevent or prolong the process of finding pertinent information. It will only improve over time regardless of our personal views on establishing a hierarchy of people in social media.

As the human algorithm continues to evolve, it transforms the definition of and logic for relationships. We’re adapting how we connect to one another and also constructing new roads for sharing, filtering, and ranking relevant social objects. The ties that bind us now serve as the source of how we discover information and also how it finds us. And as such, the relationships we maintain on the Social Web determine the ranking of the content we produce and its place within the social hierarchy of search results.

Perhaps the next iterations of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) will focus on enhancing the link structures of human relationships to escalate the prominence of our stature and the social objects we create and share.

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As consumers, I think you’ll agree, prior to making any decision purchase, most of the time, our journey begins with a combination of online search and real world conversations with friends, family and peers. As the Web matures, a greater volume of our attention and focus continues to shift from other mediums to the Web for not only purchase considerations but also for content discovery.

It’s how we learn.

It’s how we stay connected.

Nielsen released a new study that documents the extent of this shift and also captures an evolution in our online behavior as we augment traditional search engines with the search boxes within social networks. As such, Google is no longer the only hub for content discovery. The statusphere is introducing new channels that now serve as our attention dashboards and it’s the collection of streams of consciousness from those we choose to follow. Collecta, Twitter Search, Facebook News Feeds, FriendFeed, etc., serve as the gateways to insight and enlightenment.

The Nielsen study fielded in August 2009 consisted of 1,800 participants in which they looked at three main consumer segments using search (Searchers), portals (Portalists) or social media (Socializers) as their primary vehicle for content discovery.

While traditional search engines accounted for 37%, the combination of search and online portals such as Yahoo, MSN, and AOL collectively represented 71% of the sites that serve as the sources for discovery. One of the more interesting results for the purposes of fueling this discussion is that social media sites such as Wikipedia, blogs, and social networks account for 18% of where searches begin, outperforming sites that are dedicated to publishing information specifically to help individuals find deeper analysis and details.

The study found that Socializers tend to trust what their friends have to say and use their online behavior (conversations, links, published experiences) as a form of information filtration. As Neilsen observers, “Social Media is becoming a core product research channel.”

In December 2008, Forrester Research published a report that found company blogs were among the bottom of the list of trusted sources for information. In contrast, consumers stated that they trusted email from contacts, consumer ratings/reviews, search engines respectively.  The social graph ranked sixth.

In 2009 however, Nielsen found that almost 15% of Socializers most trusted information they found on blogs (most likely not corporate) when researching purchases online and 20% most trusted the information they found on message boards. Facebook and/or Twitter on the other hand only represented 8% of trusted tools for seeking direction.

As search functionality and filtering improves in social media, you can expect Twitter, Facebook and other networks to grow more significant in their role for content discovery.

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I’m blogging from the Real-Time Stream event in Redwood City, California organized by TechCrunch. I will share more of my thoughts and observations in a series of posts at a later time – there’s just so much too process in “real time.” Let’s just say that the future of search, streams and the concept of the “Now Web” is blindingly bright.

One of the presenting companies here is Collecta, a new take on Web search, social aggregation, and real-time aggregation..

Collecta recently launched a new platform in public beta that fundamentally changes the way people find and access information on the web.It is especially interesting for any brand manager attempting to harness and organize conversations across the social Web.

What we’re learning through Twitter Search, is that people want access to the immediacy of conversations tied to keywords, regardless of the authority, Page Rank, and SEO.

This is the dawn of real-time search…

It’s the difference between finding the right content on the Web and finding the right content, right now across the Web and Social Media.

As Collecta CEO, Gerry Campbell puts it, “I want to know what are people saying about my topic, right now. The minute you put rankings and filters on search, it stops representing real-time.”

Last year I introduced the Conversation Prism with Jesse Thomas to map the social landscape as a way of discovering REAL insight into the conversations transpiring across social networks, where and when they occurred.

Initially, I expected brand managers and marketers to use the search boxes within relevant networks to search for past and current conversations. The dream was, of course, to have a search window into the social web and the social graph, in real-time. Collecta, among other specialized tools such as One Riot, Topsy, and PeopleBrowsr are peeling back the layers of society, focusing the our attention to enhance and amplify listening, and plugging us directly into the conversations that shape impressions and perceptions.

While searching the Conversation Prism is real-time is not yet fully realized, it is imminent.

Essentially, Collecta enables Internet search to finally keep pace with the real-time information streams on blogs, microblogs such as Twitter and FriendFeed, traditional news sites, Web sites, and social networks such as Flickr, YouTube, and Digg. It then centralizes the search results in easy to read, continually updating streams.

While not every search requires the immediacy of real-time, Collecta’s technology can dramatically transform the end user experience in countless applications, such as watching a live stream of comments on a sporting event or television show, following breaking news or a natural disaster, or keeping a close eye on brand or product comments.

I asked Gerry about the inspiration behind Collecta and his response paints a picture representing a true shift in technology and behavior, “The evolution of media needs to catch up to the pace of how people are consuming data now. We need to rethink search from the user perspective, not trying stuff results into existing paradigms and products. We have to start from scratch.”

He continued, “Every minute, stories are told on the Web. Yet in traditional search, most are usually ranked out of the results and therefore, people don’t get a chance to see them. With Collecta, you can see these stories break and unfold.”

Unlike other aggregator or search tools that are simply a mashup of information built on top Twitter Search, Collecta has built an entire ecosystem and infrastructure based on the open messaging standard XMPP. Over the past decade, the Collecta team has placed an early stake in the future of XMPP. And the recent launch of Google Wave ups the ante on XMPP’s position in the real time web.

Collecta is a river, while traditional search architectures are oceans.

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Is 2009 the year you finally dive into the world wide web of blogging? Or, is it the year you switch blogging platforms or services? It is for me. In fact, I’m exploring the near-term migration of PR 2.0 from Blogger to WordPress (both self-hosted).

Make no mistake, even with the popularity of micro communities such as Twitter, aggregated streams/lifestreams such as Strands and FriendFeed, and tumblelogs (Tumblr), blogging is still one of the most effective and visible stages to spotlight your expertise, thoughts, advice, opinions, and insight (for you and your company.) It fuels discovery and it conveys adeptness and reinforces participation.

So how do you determine which solution to support?

For the rest of us who are overwhelmed with choices and recommendations, perhaps there’s guidance in the curated platforms that other top bloggers have embraced. We can assume that they have tried and tested multiple solutions, settling on a blog formula that allows them to customize and publish content efficiently and effectively. At the very least, our choices are narrowed into a palatable array for quicker dissemination.

To help, Pingdom released an interesting study that reveals the numbers behind the most popular blog platforms and the most linked-to bloggers using them.

Blog Software (Self-Hosted Blogs)

According to the study, Pingdom identified WordPress as the top choice among the most “popular” bloggers according to Technorati’s Top 100, powering 27 out of 100 blogs.

Movable Type was second with 12 out of 100.

Only 8 blogs use a custom-made blog platform.

Drupal, a general purpose CMS, boasts 4 blogs.

Blogging Services (Third-party service providing blog software and hosting)

While WordPress is the more popular solution among those who self-host their blogs, Movable Type’s Typepad excels to the top of the list for bloggers using services based on blog platforms (Typepad on Movable Type, WordPress on WordPress, Blogger on Google’s Blogspot, etc.)

It’s important to note that more than 1/3 of the top 100 bloggers use a blogging service.

Typepad powers 16 of the top 100 blogs.

AOL-owned Blogsmith (used by Weblogs, Inc.) drives 14 of the top 100.

WordPress.com is used by 5.

Blogger (Google) fuels 3.
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Top Blogs and the Corresponding Platforms

Blog Name, Technorati Rank, Platform

In order to maximize the full opportunities and benefits that strategic blogging can yield, it is highly recommended that you use blog software or a service that you personally (or with the help of experts) customize to match the brand and the persona you wish to covey – from the design aesthetics to the URL – and everything in between.

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The escalator is the new elevator when it comes to pitching and the emerging practice of micro public relations.

While some bloggers and reporters are actively blacklisting PR people, whether it’s fair or not, it’s not truly fixing or changing anything at a grand scale – at least not yet. I’m part of a growing number of PR folks who are committed to sharing stories, experiences, tools, practices, and ideas on how to specifically fix the relationships between PR and influencers.

But, it’s not only PR people who are guilty of unfocused and irrelevant storytelling (spam), it’s also company executives and founders who lose a bit of perspective during the reality and grind of product development. In a sense, it puts the blinders on making it incredibly difficult for entrepreneurs to transcend their passion into something more substantial to those outside of their day-to-day ecosystem. This doesn’t only correlate to bad or even worse, zero publicity, it affects everything from financing to business development to valuation.

So, I’m here throwing my hat into the ring to also help company executives, as well as PR representatives, condense their pitch into something more palatable, important, promising, and also intriguing. This is an exercise in how you can help those that matter to your business quickly get to the point where they want to know more about your company.

We’ve all heard of the elevator pitch.

As our attention span thins and tests the true extent of our elasticity, many are finding that most businesses still can’t tell their story quickly and concisely without superlatives, buzzwords, technical jargon, and deafening marketing speak. The answer to “what do you do?” doesn’t yield much, usually requiring the person listening to ask further qualifying questions in order to get a truly meaningful and relevant answer.

I’m sorry to say that most people don’t have the time, patience, or attention to continually ask for more information – nor should they. The onus is on you to tell your story in a way that helps them get it, almost instantly. And, you want them to do something about what they’re hearing, not just nod their head in agreement.

That’s right. Forget the elevator pitch, it’s time to hop on an escalator to a more effective company pitch.

Introducing the escalator pitch.

My good friend Stowe Boyd, recently introduced the concept of the #TwitPitch, a very streamlined way for using Twitter to simplify the process of booking briefings with companies during the show. It forced companies to distill their message in 140 characters, which, in the process, will hopefully tighten and streamline the typical elevator pitch. As Stowe says, “I think twitpitch takes the elevator pitch to new brevity: the escalator pitch.”

The idea of the escalator pitch is game changing and powered by the brevity that takes place on Twitter every minute of every day. It inspires us to embrace brevity and relevance outside of twitter, in the real world, to help people “get” what we do and why they should care.

I’ve been on the receiving end of elevator pitches for years, and I can honestly tell you that most are much longer than most elevator rides and most certainly, very difficult to discern the value within each – regardless of whether or not the product or service is indeed promising or revolutionary. Simply said, don’t assume that anyone is going to see things the way you do.

Several factors usually contribute to ineffective pitches:

1- Lack of presence or conviction

2- Absence of enthusiasm or the over reliance on enthusiasm

3 – Inability to connect with audience

4 – Not knowing who the audiences really are

5 – Dilution of the story with buzzwords and jargon

6 – The story is missing the human factor

7 – No insight for how this changes the world

8 – The path for the future is usually shortsighted

9 – The connection to “what’s in it for me” or “how does this improve my flow” are usually missing

10 – A call-to-action is usually overlooked

11 – The misperception that no competition exists

With the introduction of the escalator pitch, spokespersons now face a greater challenge, and with it, a new opportunity, to make a first and lasting impression.

BusinessWeek recently published an article on the philosophy and potential of the escalator pitch and micropitching as a new art form. It featured insight from Stowe and also a quote from yours truly.

The article states that Stowe’s “experiment offers a lesson for small companies that want the attention of potential investors, clients, and press: Get to the point.”

In the article, I was asked to answer what makes a good escalator pitch? I answered, “Brevity and relevance. It’s about focus and precision, and it needs to be aligned and presented in a way that reflects who you write to and why it’s beneficial to your readers.”

BusinessWeek further summarized my series of responses, “That means tailoring your message to your audience. Tell investors how you’re going to make money, tell customers how you’re going to solve their problems, and tell bloggers why their readers should care.”

According to a Sequoia Capital investor, when Sergey Brin and Larry Page (the Google founders for those who don’t know) first approached the firm, their passion, brevity, and clear vision was contagious and inspiring. It’s now known as the eight-word pitch that opened the door to further conversations. The founding duo stated that Google would provide “access to the world’s information in one click.”

It’s about saying and demonstrating the things that will continually escalate your opportunity to the next level to say and demonstrate more – earning believers, evangelists, investors, stakeholders, customers, and partners along the way.

In the spirit of TwitPitch and the escalator pitch, Stowe and I last week announced MicroPR, a new service to help connect PR and media/bloggers on Twitter through the practice of pitching from concentrate – again emphasizing succinctness. MicroPR leverages micromedia, starting with Twitter, to connect journalists, bloggers, analysts and PR/marketing together in an efficient, unobtrusive, targeted, and productive way.

I highly recommend that reporters, journalists, bloggers, analysts, and anyone looking for support in story development use it to connect with communications professionals. Likewise, PR people should follow @micropr in order to see these requests as they appear in the Twitter stream.

In its Alpha form, MicroPR will help channel information, starting as a service for media to source stories, share their preferences for receiving information, announce change of beats, call for speakers or awards submissions, or anything that needs to hit a very focused list of savvy and connected PR professionals. Media, bloggers, and PR people, THIS IS A MUST READ.

Get on the Escalator

Honestly, condensing and elevating your pitch and matching it to the specific audience can only help recruit supporters. It’s storytelling, except the story is written 100 different ways – all equally compelling. And, it’s cognizant and representative of to whom you’re speaking. Investors want to know how what you’re doing is going to add value to a market and how and why they’re going to embrace it – as well as evaluating the prospect for financial gain. Customers need to hear how what you do solves problems or pains that they may have – or may soon experience. Those customers also have different needs determined by their marketplace. The same is true for the reporters and bloggers who are regarded as resources by each customer demographic – they need to hear things specific to their workflow and community.

The same exercises and practices of micro messaging are critical for helping company spokespersons distill their story for every step of the business process, from funding to sales to exit, in order to seed interest and support and grow the business opportunity as well as the bottom line and overall valuation.

Take it seriously, you are not above improvement.

Assume you have one shot at getting someone excited about what you’re doing, because, technically, you do.

Make sure to clearly express who this is different than anything else out there and how it benefits the people who’ll use it.

Get friendly feedback.

Rehearse your pitch, continually.

Tighten it.

Evolve it based on reactions.

Share your story in 60 seconds or less, each and every time.

Shape it to include the key points specific to the group to whom you’re speaking.

If you can nail it on an escalator, the elevator pitch will seem like a luxury.

Going up?

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, Tumblr, or Facebook.

Just a bit ago, I wrote a post covering my favorite tools for monitoring conversations on Twitter.

I’d like to add one more to the bunch. Recently launched Summize is similar to TweetScan, but also unique in its capabilities and in turn, changes how we may view Twitter search. At the very minimum, it’s a basic search tool that operates similar to how you would naturally search in Yahoo or Google. Both tools bring Twitter alive and expose the layers of conversations taking place that matter to your personal life, your professional brand or the companies/products you may represent.

Developed by Summize Labs, Summize’s mission is to search and discover the topics and attitudes expressed within online conversations.

Summize, provides clean, simple search interface that can be expanded to include more advanced options, similar to Google’s home page, while TweetScan is more of the Yahoo of Twitter search.

For those who are looking for specific content along with emotion, context, location, traffic, or embedded links etc., Summize provides a series of “search operators” to effectively and quickly navigate through the ever-evolving world of micro conversations.

Each search query offers an RSS feed to automatically search and monitor the results as well as the ability to send your results as a Tweet.

The only downside to Summize is that I haven’t noticed an auto-refresh option. It does alert you as new results are found, but you need to manually force it to display them.

Summize Labs is also currently experimenting with a Realtime Twitter Sentiment search tool that locates up-to-the-second tweets about your topic and automatically analyzes and displays the attitudes expressed in those tweets.

All-in-all, I find that I’m using Summize to monitor the conversations that pertain to the companies I represent in order to determine not only context and sentiment, but also the conversations that require our participation.

Companies such as JetBlue, Zappos, H&R; Block, Southwest and Dell are already actively listening and participating in conversations on Twitter and throughout the socialmediasphere. They represent a new era of outbound customer service-focused companies seeking to engage the very people who could in turn further evangelize their experiences. Tools such as Summize only help them, and you, identify the conversations that could benefit from personable, informative, and helpful outreach from you or someone within your organization. Otherwise, you leave it up to those who may or may not be qualified to represent your brand to potential stakeholders. And, even worse, you leave the door open to your competition to interject and earn a position of influence.

Here are the conversations taking place on Twitter related to Summize and the related sentiment (note: type summize and then search for sentiment).

Other relevant stories on PR 2.0:
- PR 2.0 = The Evolution of PR, Nothing Less, Nothing More
- The Value of Online Conversations
- Distributed Conversations and Fragmented Attention
- The Art of Listening and Engagement
- The Social Media Manifesto
- Will the Real Social Media Expert Please Stand Up

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, or Facebook.

I recently ran “The Definitive Guide to Social Media Releases,” which has received some great feedback. Thank you everyone!

Even though it’s a blog post, it doesn’t mean that its shelf life is merely limited to the brief period of time in between new posts. I’d like it to live on and evolve over time as we learn more about SMRs. And, you’re a big part of that evolution.

I was planning on letting that post sit up there for the week, until I received an incredible comment yesterday from Steve Kayser. It’s worth spotlighting and sharing as its own post as he has done what many have been asking for, present a real world case study of the effectiveness of Social Media Releases across various wire services.

It’s nothing short of insightful, and most importantly, it will serve as a guide when considering how and where to distribute SMRs.

As you know, my favorite distribution method is creating, hosting, and channeling a new breed of SMRs through customized blog platform. While it sounds complicated, it really isn’t. And it perfectly complements a traditional wire release by providing comprehensive and consistent findability and visibility across traditional search and blog (social media) search engines and also social networks.

Please note, if you haven’t yet read the previous post, please do so prior to reading this.

Without further ado, here is Steve Kayser’s report on Social Media Releases in action…

—-

Hey Brian:

Nice post. A lot of great points.

As to the question you posed:

And, is this what reporters and bloggers really want and do we really need them?

Are SMRs created for journalists and bloggers and is it what they want?

I was asked this question last week by a marketing manager after having released three test SMR’s. Here’s my answer to the question you posed – and a point.

I care – but not too much.

If you deal in a “complex sale” environment (which we do), a high-dollar product or solution sale (usually over $150,000) requiring buyer evaluation committees, made up of 10-21 people of different functional business groups, it’s more important to make sure our news and content value is “Findable” for those people on the committees when they begin their due diligence. The ‘user”, the “IT person” the “business manager,” “Business decision-maker,” Legal, HR, etc., etc., all have their own unique and specific information needs, which by default includes specific language and terms they use to search for (keywords – key phrases etc.). Sure we want journalists and bloggers to have whatever they need to write their story. We want to be a trusted and valued source. But … no begging or buying is going to happen for them to write about us. No time for that. The hierarchy has changed. Now for us is – first the buyer’s information needs – then the bloggers, media, analysts, etc.

To stay competitive in the tech industry today you have to be

• Findable

• Believable

• Credible

• Prove Value

… just to get into consideration for the complex sale.

Once you’re findable, believable, credible, then you have to prove value – quickly. The SMR is a great tool to help promote those goals. Most buying committees have their researchers start due diligence on the web. Our internal research shows over 93% of our B2B buyers do it that way.

The SMNR helps us be more “findable.”

That’s good. But it also needs to be well-written because a well-written SMR can help us be “believable.” The opposite is also true. Poorly written corporate gobbledygook (to your point in this post) can make you look incredibly unbelievable. Which negates you ever getting into the due diligence buying process. However, good writing is not as easy to do anymore as a lot of folks out there think. (It’s complex to write simple these days.)

“Credible” follows after they do more research. Or not.

MARKETWIRE SMR

I tested Marketwire’s SMNR last week on a Smalltalk Application Development Language press release.

Now … it’s not great, not brilliant, not a literary piece in any stretch of the imagination, but it’s functional, having included some of the keywords/key phrases for this product group’s audience in the title/subtitle and first 100 words. It’s a highly niche and passionate community.

A U.S. SMR VIEW

Costs:

My view (from the U.S.) is that costs for SMR’s are relatively high. The ability to include the additional informational in the release via the related links section that ads value, ups the word count – which ups the cost because after the first 400 words almost all wire services typically charge you $1.00 a word (or somewhere close).

Multi-media assets:

Being a tech SMB – with a couple hundred million in revenue and producing about 100 press releases or so a year in the US – having video/audio assets available for SMR’s from all the product groups becomes a constant challenge. The marketing and product managers almost have to be evangelists/zealots and do a lot of the video and photos themselves. Some are hip to it. Others resist it like the plague. And, the more video / images / multi-media you do use — the more the cost goes up.

But having said all that, Marketwire’s release delivered exceptional results for us. It got pulled into a lot of our target pubs. It was visually and graphically appealing. The live links in the webosphere section started slowly then gradually grew and continue to do so. I think over 10,000 links now. Google keeps on building, “Live” keeps on building, Yahoo actually started higher (79 links) then declined. It has now shrunk to 1 link. I think that’s because their news algorithm churns them into the archive – but I’m not sure about that.

One thing I really liked — the “comments” section. It was valuable and eye-opening. Comments on a press release valuable? Yes. Several had in-depth insights, past experience comments with the product and questions about the future direction. A lot of the questions were about the topic of the press release – but I had probably 20 emails questioning me about the format of the release itself, which was interesting. But it also caused me more work. I had to write an explanation about the new format for our internal employees, detailing the components and the value of the new format. Then I had to send it to marketing, product and pre/post sales managers that weren’t involved in the tests.

Many warmly received it.

Many didn’t.

One great comrade-in-arms, when describing the mindset that did not warmly receive the message and is leery of change, sent me a quote from a Mel Brooks movie – I can’t remember the movie, but do remember the quote.

“It looks dangerous Master … you go first.”

EUROPEAN VIEW

I also used Webitpr.com in the UK last week for a different SMR about a Healthcare Software Application.

First of all, Webitpr.com is a great company to work with. They’re on top of it – especially monitoring the blogosphere. I met them through, of all things, a blog posting on PR-Squared’s blog about the SMR. They saw the posting, responded to me about the content of the post in a courteous, non-obtrusive professional manner and now we’re setting up an overseas account with them. Actually released two English press releases and one German press release over the last several weeks. Adam Parker, Jonathan Dolby, Stephen Davies, — super service. They knock it out quick, — use the SHIFT template pretty much – have a different distribution reach, but very effective. I think they’re going to be a major player in this field. Hope so anyway. It’s nice to work with people who are passionate, positive and proactive. Cost is competitive, but the U.S. dollar decline might pinch them a bit.

TRACKING ISSUES

Marketwire SMR’s don’t show up on our reporting dashboard like a typical MW release does. This will cause me (and other PR folks who use Marketwire) some issues trying to reconcile cost/value metrics for upper management. The webosphere link tracking is excellent though. Might even have to create a couple new metrics. Something along the lines of “number of comments, actions or emails” on the PR. I’m not sure yet, but we need to be able to prove the value of our PR efforts. I know this is new ground being plowed – but once the seeds are planted eventually some crops better come up.

WEBITPR.com does have tracking that I can easily append to my other tracking efforts – I use VocusPR for tracking and Marketwire as our main distribution service. WEBITPR’s tracking is easy to view, understand, use and pretty cool to boot. The guys over the pond have done a nice job of building their offering. Pretty impressive actually. Hats off to them.

SMR CHALLENGES

One of the major challenges I see though is downstream distribution. The way these SMR’s are rendered and displayed. They are ripped up and displayed in a gazillion different ways. Almost every news site displays the SMR differently. The best you can hope for right now I guess is to get it right where you have control – like for example, Marketwire – or Webitpr – or whatever your distribution vendor happens to be.

However, though seemingly a small issue, “downstream display and rendering” I guarantee you this question will come up when cost-justifying the SMR to internal budget committees – “Why do it if doesn’t get rendered or displayed the correct way. Isn’t that a waste of money?” So, be prepared to cost justify with results.

Few examples:

Yahoo does okay – renders graphics – but no video.

MSNBC – images and video at bottom.

IMPORTANT NOTE

PRXBuilder.com was the best.

And there’s a reason for that.

I developed all my SMR’s on PRXBUILDER first and then uploaded them. Shannon Whitley at PRXBUILDER is superb to work with. Knowledgeable, helpful, courteous, goes the extra step. His PRXBuilder tool can really help people get their minds around the SMR concept easily and quickly. It’s simple, easy-to-use and you can be up and running in a few minutes with it. Plus, it gives me the ability to use the same press release content and deliver it in 4 different formats

• Traditional Release

• Social Media Release

• Multi-media Release

• New Media Release

This is helpful as we gradually ramp up use of the SMR format – I can still do it the old way if need be for some recipients who need it in different formats.It would be great if Marketwire accepted the PRX Format. I know PRNewswire accepts it – but they’re a little pricey right now for this type release.

Thanks for your post Brian.

Great work as always.

Best,

Steve Kayser

——

Steve, thank you very much for taking the time to document your experiences. I believe that it will only help guide marketing and PR professionals as they look to navigate the murky and unchartered waters of Social Media. I look forward to your future experiments.

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Plaxo, or Facebook

2.0

The Social Media Release is back in the spotlight once again and its sparking conversations, inspiring experiments, and raising confusion along the way.

This time, intent and distribution take center stage.

Good friends Todd Defren and Christopher Lynn took the time to research how wire services are positioning their products for Social Media. Todd posted the results here. Great work guys!

Basically, when you call your local representative, you’re presented with the following capabilities.

Now, whether these stats are accurate, that’s up to what you discover through direct research. Ultimately, you have to hear directly from your rep and try these for yourself in order to draw exact conclusions. But, as Defren points out, his research is representative of what the wire services “know and sell” right now.

So, this brings up a couple of important points:

How do you distribute these things?

And, is this what reporters and bloggers really want and do we really need them?

OK, NEWS FLASH….

For Immediate Release:

Press Releases Are Only One Way To Tell Your Story; Social Media Releases Can Complement Traditional Releases

DATELINE: The Blogosphere — NOW – Brian Solis, a “leader” in what should be nothing more than the obvious, today announced that Social Media Releases can complement your outbound communications strategy based on what the people you’re trying to reach want to see and how. They do not replace Traditional Releases.

“I am so pleased and excited that the PR industry is interested in something new to help reach journalists, bloggers and their customers,” said Brian Solis, author of the PR 2.0 blog. “But, I’m sorry to say, that just because a new tool is available to you, you still have to make your story interesting, relevant, and newsworthy. The Social Media Release is not going to miraculously fix a hyperbole-ridden, over-stated, incomprehensible document riddled with BS. The people that matter to you are simply seeking context, relevance, what’s new, what you do, why it matters, how it’s different, and to whom. You still have to do your homework and write something compelling and clear.”

# # #

Why Do We Need the Social Media Release?

OK folks, it’s time to separate the hype from the hope.

I think we’re learning “how” to create Social Media Releases, aesthetically at least. But, I don’t see many discussions that effectively and clearly say “why” we need them.

There’s plenty of talk. And, there’s definitely no shortage of critics out there. And to some extent, I too am skeptical of any one tool that carries the hopes of an industry to magically change the popular perception of PR and press releases in general.

But, IMHO, the SMR is an important icebreaker for the bigger discussions of how and why we should write better press releases in general.

I use them in conjunction with traditional releases and they work extremely well. Personally, I prefer using a blog platform to create and distribute them.

Are they as effective when distributed through a a wire service?

For example, let’s use MarketWire’s recent launch of its new Social Media Release service, “Social Media 2.0” as a case study to see if we can answer why Social Media Releases are worth our time and if they really work. Disclosure, Thom, Kevin, I’m a big fan of MarketWire, so what follows is just an open discussion of a public launch related to a relevant topic.

Facts:

MarketWire recently acquired Kevin Dill’s PRNN service, which was an effective solution for distributing releases online.

Now part of MarketWire, Kevin helped the company build a new Social Media solution dubbed, “Social Media 2.0, the Industry’s Most Authentic Social Media Product.”

They announced it via a Social Media Release format, a service which I also helped them manually code over the course of several announcements starting in 2006.

First, let’s examine the headline, “Marketwire Unveils Social Media 2.0: Industry’s Most Authentic Social Media Product.”

The only reason I’m calling this out, outside of the Social Media ingredients that define the release, is because any product related to Social Media Releases is important and especially relevant to the discussion. Whether Traditional or Social, this headline unfortunately contributes to PR’s usual tendency to hype, hype, and hype some more. It steals from the significance of Social Media and the SMR, demonstrating why PR has a hard time getting taken seriously. Thom, Kevin, consult with us first. It’s free and it’s only going to help the bigger cause that we’re all collaboratively working towards.

Wanna know what the industry’s most authentic Social Media product is?

Blogs.

Instead of being the most authentic social media product, it instead comes across as a disingenuous and an opportunistic attempt at capitalizing on something momentous and “open.”

The intro paragraph, aside from the hype, serves well for ensuring that the release gets indexed in traditional search engines. Their intro paragraph is packed with key words, which will help it show up in search.

Here are a few examples how well it did for searching “social media” and “Marketwire”

Reuters

Google News

Yahoo News

Could it have been a bit more effective across other key words?

Yes, absolutely.

That’s the art of a SEO-optimized press release, which are complementary to SMRs and traditional press releases.

Did it too reasonably well?

Sure it did.

Here’s where most Social Media Releases fall down…

The link to Digg isn’t generating community voting the way that it does in say, a blog post.

Is this fixable?

Yes.

Unfortunately, the link to search context and discussions within Technorati isn’t yielding all of the discussions we know are present in the blogosphere.

Is this fixable?

Yes.

In the Bookmarking category, the MarketWire SMR has everything needed to ensure that people can save and share this link publicly within social networks.

The trackbacks function only provides a trackback URL, when it could also display a list of all places that responded to the news.

Instead of providing a hub to all external and orbiting conversations, it provides a count to discussions through traditional search engines.

Google

Yahoo

The embedded video and stills ensure that the conversations take place outside and around the news. For example, at the time of this article, the YouTube video featuring Thom’s intro to the new release service was viewed 333 times and counting. However, it’s missing the link back to the release should someone stumble upon it directly within YouTube. But, it’s still bringing the conversation to people and also allowing them to discover it within their networks.

Overall, aside from the “over the top” positioning, MarketWire demonstrated how a Social Media Release can spark conversations across the Social Web. As their coding improves, they’ll be able to track and promote the dialog more effectively, thus extending the conversation.

Unfortunately, though, the release isn’t gaining visibility within Social Media channels, which is an important step in tying everything together, and also promoting the information within the very networks that people go to discover and share information.

Everything else, including RSS feeds, work really well and I’m sure the SMR service will only get better. The products from PRNewswire, PRWeb, and BusinessWire, share similar capabilities, and most likely, results within the Social Media Sphere.

How could all of them improve?

Service providers and businesses looking to amply SMRs should extend the platform beyond an HTML Web page. Building something on a social platform such as WordPress, with full customization capabilities, delivers an inherent social ecosystem which supports the social tools of today and tomorrow and also ensures visibility and search ability using Social Search engines. Offering combo pricing for an SMR plus traditional distribution would raise the bar and create an entirely new playing field for sharing news across Social and Traditional networks.

What Makes a Social Media Releases Social?

Obviously a Social Media Release needs to feature Social Media ingredients, which includes links to bookmarking networks, contextual tags, the ability to track and host conversations, and also discover them within social networks. The inclusion of new features to simply make a fancy, shiny, new whiz bang press release doesn’t necessarily cut it.

So, what socializes a release?

A Social Media Release should contain everything necessary to share and discover a story in a way that is complementary to your original intent; but, the difference is, how they find it and the tools they use to share and broadcast.

Social Media is one big extension to the Web, except it promotes voices, along with content, in a way that focuses on people and their social networks.

Giving everyone what they need and how they need it, requires a different approach. Almost 100% of press releases issued today are done so without video or audio, which are underlying component of SMRs. But it’s not about multimedia content, it’s about connecting content across social networks and the people looking for it.

Social Media lowers the barriers to entry for companies to record, share and embed video and audio, and most importantly, allow people to also easily share with their audiences. The same can be said for all multimedia content.

Everything within Social Media now is widgetized, meaning that if you upload various content across social networks, you can embed it all in one place and repackage it under one brand umbrella. Without getting all geeky, these networks give you the “embed code” that you need to plop it somewhere. It’s just cut and paste. What if the whole SMR was embeddable as well? That could be very cool!

So if we’re promoting conversations, shouldn’t we instill the ability to host or feature comments?

Absolutely.

Social Media is a two-way street and dialog sets the foundation for Social Media Releases.

The next step is discovery.

By placing content across social networks, properly tagging them (inserting relevant key words) within each, and linking back to your SMR (or blog post), you can effectively leverage visibility within each community, and also steer influence back to your intended impressions.

Obviously conversations should be ongoing, so part of socializing the release has a lot do with helping people staying connected and also find it again should they wish to see updates.

Make sure to check out co-comment, Tangler, and SezWho.

RSS for company news is one way to keep people tapped in to what you’re doing. Offering links to simply that process could only help. For example, include linked icons for Bloglines, Netvibes, PageFlakes, and Google Reader. In addition, companies should also think about creating individual RSS feeds for product lines and specific services, to keep people connected to specific channels.

And if you’re feeling particularly inspired, creating an aggregated dashboard of relevant content, using Alltop or POPURLs as an example, bloggers, journalists, and customers can stay up to date and connected. Try experimenting with Netvibes to create something like this as a way of experimenting by tracking your favorite voices and stories on the Web. All it takes is an RSS feed.

So again, we ask, what makes a Social Media Release Social?

Well, at the end of the day, if you’ve ever written a blog post, much of what I’m describing already exists. There’s nothing to say that you couldn’t do this right now simply by creating a customized blog that is an extension of your company’s online newsroom.

However, if resources are limited, there are companies, including my own, which help you get there. Or, you can simply use existing services to recreate this process for every news release you wish to publish.

So, at the end of all of this, a Social Media Release should look something like this:

—————–

Headline

Intro paragraph, rich with key words, relevance and context (summary)

Supporting facts

Quote

Embeddable Video (The new VNR)

Embeddable Audio

Embeddable Images

RSS for the company news

RSS for product info

Post in “insert social network of choice” (Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, or a relevant social network for sharing)

Blog this (links to blogging platforms)

Share on Twitter, Jaikue, Pownce or Tumblr

Bookmarks

Relevant links

Digg, Reddit, and other relevant news aggregators and communities.

Comments – Maybe also include a link to a hosted network on Ning or even a discussion forum on Tangler or Google Groups

Contact: hcard, vcard, LInkedIn, Facebook

—————–

The Value of Social Media Releases

Even after we define the SMR, the same questions still come up:

1. Should we include sentences or is it supposed to be bullets?

2. Are we designing SMRs for “the wire” or the “web?”

3. Are SMRs created for journalists and bloggers and is it what they want?

4. Do SMRs need to spark and host conversations?

5. Can they, and should they, bypass influencers to reach people directly?

1- In order for these releases to show up in search engines, the truth is that an intro paragraph or two are necessary to help them index properly. Simply relying on bullets won’t get you anywhere, even if they’re sent directly to your contacts.

2 – I guess that parlays into the next point, SMRs should be designed for the Web, while a traditional release (say a compatriot release) is designed for the wire. Social Media Releases play to the strengths of the Web and also Social Media, a feature that wire services have yet to conquer.

3 – Personally, I’ve created SMRs with a private URL and shared with reporters and bloggers before the news was official (basically under embargo). They loved it and the ratio for pitching and publishing was almost 100%. But, all I’m doing is creating, positioning and packaging information in a way that’s relevant to them. The SMR in this case, becomes a wrapper for presenting information in a palatable and digestible way.

4 – Yes

5 – SMRs are more than just reporters and bloggers; they’re about people. When created properly, they can get discovered by the very people you want to reach and thus bypassing traditional influencers. I’m not saying that you should bank on this as a strategy, only think about it when you’re creating your press release strategy. You can write for both influencers and customers using a variety of Traditional, SEO, and Social press releases.

Yes, press releases show up in search engines.

Traditional Search Engines

Let’s start with the basics.

Traditional press releases distributed over wire services, for better or worse, ARE already showing up in search engines (especially Google and Yahoo News) as a natural part of the wire distribution process. Bottom line, press releases are already reaching people directly.

According to an Outsell study, over 51% of IT professionals report that they get their news from press releases in Yahoo and Google news over trade journals.

It’s a fact that is changing the game for PR, and it’s not only being driven by journalists, but customers too.

What it really represents is an opportunity to do things better. It all starts with making news relevant and writing it in a way that help people “get it.” An awful press release will still be awful, regardless of multimedia or social bling.

So, if traditional press releases already reach people, then why do we need a Social Media Release?

Search and Discovery in Social Media

Social Media Releases may look similar to today’s multimedia releases in format, structure and design, but depending on a series of factors, they have the ability to open up dialog in a way not possible with traditional or multimedia releases.

An important distinction between the two, discovered after spending the last two years experimenting with formats and distribution channels, is this: the content and structure of the SMR is only part of the equation.

What if the people you’re trying to reach are searching and sharing content outside of traditional online communities and instead, or in addition, actively participating in Social Media?

Helping SMRs appear within this realm is the true promise…otherwise they’re nothing more than a fancy wrapper for packaging news for their intended recipients. And, as any good PR person will tell you, providing a summary, images, video, and other supporting facts in one package, specific to their intended recipient, is something they’ve been doing for years.

SMRs are much more than bulleted text and links to multimedia content in social networks. It’s much more than simply sharing information. And, it’s definitely much more than providing building blocks for people to piece together.

SMRs are the hub for relevant content and also the catalyst for the socialization of news.

But, if nobody sees it, what good are they?

A big part of this socialization starts with “findability,” i.e. is the SMR discoverable inside or outside the world of Social Media?

Contrary to popular belief, search engines are not all created equal – especially in the world of Social Media.

The same tools that you use to find bloggers who cover the topics that are important to you, are also the same tools that someone can use to find your SMR (when done right).

- Technorati
- Blogpulse
- Google Blog Search
- Google Alerts

You probably didn’t know this, but most SMRs released to-date not readily discoverable by “social” search engines, even if you embed Technorati tags.

Yep, it’s true. The tags included in most SMRs will lead the reader to contextual links, but, the release itself will remain invisible in the social search engine. For example, click any Technorati Tag in any SMR out there and it will simply force a search for that keyword and produce all related blog posts on the subject, but the release itself won’t be part of the results unfortunately.

Please keep in mind that this is different that the “suggested” tags that you’re seeing in the hybrid examples out there today. If anything, they just help increase findability in traditional search.

Social Media Optimization (SMO)

To be “seen” by these blog-specific engines requires a separate social media optimization (SMO) aka blog search engine optimization (BSEO) process and an entirely different distribution mechanism. If the SMR is not published via a social platform (note: blogs are inherently social) like WordPress or Blogger, it’s going to be ignored by Technorati, BlogPulse, Google Blog Search, et al.

Most often though, just to get things in perspective, if you place it on the Web or distribute via a traditional wire service, your release will in traditional search.

To apply SMO to your press release, again, think about blogging it in addition to your other release distribution.

Create a virtual fireside chat. Make sure to link each release to each other. And, if you upload content to social networks for embedding into your release, also ensure that there are links back to the releases.

The most important thing you can do to escalate visibility is to tag your content direclty within each social network with the relevant key words that someone might search when they’re looking for information. I can’t emphasize this enough.

Summary

Social Media Releases are only one way to tell your story and they can work extremely well when paired with a traditional release and an effective outbound media/blogger/influencer campaign.

Nothing beats knowing what you want to say, why it matters, and to whom. You still have to do your homework and you still have to write something compelling (meaning well written.)

Conversations are ultimately the tool that will help you spread the word and ignite additional word of mouth and also trigger customer responses.

Writing the news in a way that’s helpful, informative, and relative is a critical starting point for any release, whether social, traditional, or SEO.

What this all means is that the future of the Social Media Release is up to you. Raise the bar. Experiment. Provide value. Remember, that releases, regardless of format, are only the tools that can help facilitate discussions, relationships, and also visibility. The ability to tell your story, your way, to the people that define your markets, is where we should all focus our time and effort…the rest, is simply a function of outreach.

For additional insight, please read, “The Future of the Social Media Release is in Your Hands.”

Other voices on the subject:

Dave Fleet

Jiyan Wei

Robert Geller

PRBlogger

Connect with me on Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Plaxo, or Facebook

public+relations

Jaiku confirmed today that Google *hearts* the lifestream/microblog underdog, officially announcing that the previous rumors of a potential acquisition were true.

The first question that I’ve been asked over and over again was why didn’t Google acquire Twitter and whether or not I think Yahoo will be forced to respond with the acquisition of Twitter or Pownce.

While those discussions are indeed interesting, I think that the conversation should focus on something much more than merely posturing for market share, stock valuation, or business strategy.

From a communications perspective, I think the most interesting angle is why Jaiku, and platforms like it, will evolve to take a much larger and more important role in how we broadcast thoughts, activity, milestones, information, tidbits, and content related to our personal and professional lives.

Remember, Jaiku and Twitter are very different and the reasons for the acquisition go way beyond the narrow topic of microblogging.

As I’ve written in the past, Twitter and Jaiku are similar in only the most basic features. Jaiku is about lifestreaming, social aggregation, presence, and conversations combined with location-based beacons (Nokia users), whereas Twitter’s strength is in its simplicity for updates as well as conversations.

With Google’s acquisition of Jaiku, the art of lifestreams, presence, and social aggregation takes center stage, serving as a validation for the new medium and ultimately enabling people to foster existing and new relationships at levels not before possible.

Social aggregation is becoming more prevalent as waves of people start to embrace multiple, simultaneous facets of Social Media. For example, I use Jaiku, Facebook, Tumblr and also Yahoo Mash as my satellites for channeling all of my online activity into one one river of relevance, which ultimately funnel into one unified online personal brand. Each stream is populated by the multiple nodes that define my online persona including, PR 2.0, bub.blicio.us, delicious, dopplr, upcoming, Last.fm, Twitter, Pownce, flickr, YoutTube among many networks that produce a feed.

This is not unlike the popular News Feed feature in Facebook or Yahoo Mash and soon to be a common component of many social tools. Basically the News Feeds aggregates all of your activity and the interaction with your profile within the network and channels it into one stream for people to see on your page as well as in their overall stream of the combined activity of everyone in your network.

Jaiku and Tumblr however, are channels devoted to broadcasting all social activity across all of your social networks.

While there is a crossover of people who choose to follow me across every network, the majority of my friends are distinct for each aggregate stream. People can choose which “news feeds” they choose to follow based on my activity within specific networks.

This is so much more than the purported”social graph,” which is the buzz word of the moment ” it’s about people and the technology available to help me cultivate relationships.

At the end of the day, these tools help me expand my reach, brand, opinions, and experience by going directly to the communities where my peers congregate.

I earn the friends that I deserve.

As the market evolves, lifestreams akd workstreams will become pervasive for not just personal activity, but also business applications including corporate communication, customer service, entertainment, promotion, and support. If done right, this helps strengthen

How ever Google chooses to nurture Jaiku’s technology and network, it will only be a greater example of how technology is facilitating more sophisticated and personal global conversations between friends, associates, customers, and peers.

For more information, please read:

Lifestreams channel online activity, creating rivers of relevance.

Facebook is the online hub for your personal brand

Connect on Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce or Facebook.pr+2.0