Where to go for statistics on social media?

Social Media Statistics is a wiki that aims to put in one place all the facts and figures around social media. So, if you don't know how many users Facebook currently has, this is the place to head to. On the other hand, if you know how many users Facebook currently has - it's also the place to head to and share it with others.

[Original pic by Bright Tal]

The Best Books On Social Media

A list of the best books on social media - handpicked to ensure that the books don't get outdated any time soon. And before you head off to Alibris.com on an acquisition spree, here's also a list of the top 25 free e-books on social media.

[Original pic by chotda]

Viral - a primer

Ship's Biscuit shows how the winning virals appear to show similar patterns - with examples from brands like Sony, Levis, Nokia, Vodafone, Diet Coke, BMW and more. Click here to find more on these 'patterns' exhibited by some of the winning virals.
[Original pic by Coco-cola Conversations blog]

Micro-Interactions 2.0

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David Armano on how the real power in "social" is the quality of interactions consumers have with companies and brands.

MTV Asia 'Being Young' Study & Social Media

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Blogging now 'Mainstream' among Women (Consumers)

Of the general population of online women who write blogs, 58% post entries at least weekly and of those who read blogs, 80% do so at least weekly - claims a recent study by BlogHer and Compass Partners (U.S.). Interestingly it's also at the cost of traditional media: some 24% of the women overall watch less TV and another 25% and 22% of the general consumers read fewer magazines and newspapers, respectively.

[Original pic by 1000 watt dream]

A Breakdown of Facebook Applications

Via Flowing Data.

Social Media still on rise: Universal McCann finds

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Universal McCann recently published its comparative study following Social Media trends by three waves: September 2006 (Wave 1), June 2007 (Wave 2) March 2008 (Wave 3).

Here are some research highlights from Wave 3:

1. Social media is a global phenomenon happening in all markets regardless of wider economic, social and cultural development.

2. Asian markets (not including Japan) are leading in terms of participation, creating more content than any other region

3. All social media platforms have grown significantly over the three Waves: Video Clips are the quickest growing platform, up from 31% penetration in Wave 1 to 83% in Wave 3

4. Social Networks: 57% have joined a Social Network, making it the number one platform for creating and sharing content: 55% of users have uploaded photos, 22% of users have uploaded videos

5. The widget economy – 23% of social network users have installed an application – 18% of bloggers have installed applications in their blog templates

6. Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and a collective rival to traditional media (184m bloggers world-wide, China has the largest blogging community in the world with 42m bloggers) – 73% have read a blog, 45% have started a blog

7. Social media has strong impacts over brand’s reputation – 34% post opinions about products and brands on their blog – 36% think more positively about companies that have blogs.

Social media by waves - Universal McCann survey:

Via Trendspotting.

Go viral the Facebook way

Here's an Insider's Guide to Viral Marketing that Facebook reportedly messaged to the 4,600 fans of the FacebookPages.

[Original pic by Kevin Labianco]

Social jargon: Sock puppetry

Sock puppetry. In online communities, the practice of a single person creating lots of accounts and pretending to be several different people in a debate so as to create the illusion of support for a particular position.

Here's a Wikipedia page that details sock puppetry on Wikipedia.

[Original pic by The Fabricators of Useless Articles]

A non-trivial debate

On the surface, this debate about inclusionists and deletionists at Wikipedia seems academic. But as brands proliferate online, soon they too will be faced with the same choice - what's trivial about themselves and what isn't; and where do they draw the line.

[Pic courtesy The Economist]

What are the numbers hiding?

The Dell Regeneration Facebook Graffitti campaign is being hailed as a seemingly text-book example of a social media campaign with lots of impressive-sounding numbers. But has it spurred "affinity towards the brand from green leaning consumers?" I doubt it.

[Original pic by Claudecf]

Oops...Starbucks is listening

Starbucks shows it's listening, with the launch of My Starbucks Idea - a social network where consumers post ideas on how Starbucks can improve its service and products or comment and vote on others' ideas. Putting money where its mouth is, it will also keep consumers up to speed on what Starbucks is doing with the proposed suggestions on a new blog, Ideas in Action.

A similar Web 2.0 initiative from Dell - IdeaStorm - resulted in a few concrete product developments and, in turn, got a big thumps up by Jeff Jarvis ( its fiercest critic) in BusinessWeek.

Unplannd thot: While non believers continue to brand it as a mere corporate propaganda site, it sure is a wise move by Starbucks to move the conversation from starbucksgossip.com to where it should rightly belong - with Starbucks.

Original pic by Daquella Manera

What to do about online attacks

WSJ outlines the 5 strategies at your disposal when you are facing the music online.

[Original pic by ekai]

Social media: Just reinventing the wheel?

Before there was social media, there was, well, social media - find out what its many avatars in the 1990s looked like.

[Original pic by entro_py]

Social jargon: Lifestreaming

Lifestreaming. An online record of a person's daily activities, either via direct video feed or via aggregating the person's online content such as blog posts, social network updates, and online photos.

[Original pic by skinr]

Social Video 101

A primer on viral marketing.

[Original pic by Nadya Peek]

The buck stops here...

Advertisers and online visitors are trading the awkwardness of user generated videos for the glitz and tinsel of the professional ones. So, is the amateur hour really over as claimed here? Or is it just one side of the story?

[Original pic by kenyee]

Girl power!

Girls continue to dominate most forms of content creation online. But it's the boys who romp when it comes to sharing video content online. Read on for more such findings in Pew Internet study on teens and social media (U.S.).

[Original pic by stephenjohnbryde]

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