YouTube

Social networks: we’ve all heard of them, and most of us are at least familiar with the basic principles of all the major ones—Facebook is the biggest, YouTube is the place to watch videos, Flickr is for pictures, and Twitter is, well, Twitter. But enough about the basics! We’ve compiled a list of fun social media trivia that’s sure to make you the most popular guy or gal at your next party. Or help you answer a Final Jeopardy question. Or at least make you say “hmm.”

2,330,000,000 – Number of results Google returns for the search term “blog.” The top result is Blogger.com, a Google-owned blogging service.
4,920,093 – Number of people that follow @aplusk (aka: Ashton Kutcher), Twitter’s most popular user.
750,000 – Number of people who joined the group “Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook)” when the news feed was introduced in 2005. Twitter, which was introduced in 2006, is a relatively close approximation and simplified version of the Facebook news feed. It currently boasts over 105,000,000 users.
50,237 – Number of times the most popular story on social news site Digg.com has been dugg. The story, entitled “Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0,” featured a string of code that could decrypt HD DVD format DRM. It was removed after Digg received a cease and desist notice.
11,091 – Number of results Flickr returns for the search term “platypus.”
2003 – Year Friendster, the site that defined social networking as we know it today, was launched. Friendster is still active today. Approximately 90% of its traffic comes from Asia and it continues to work on expanding its Asian presence.
1998 – Year LiveJournal, the granddaddy of all blogging platforms, was introduced.
130 – Average number of Friends a Facebook user has.
37 – Percentage of users who update Twitter using their mobile phones.
4:3 – Ratio of funny children videos to funny cat videos on YouTube. (Funny children may dominate YouTube, but the most dugg video of all time was, you guessed it, a cat video.)
0 – Number of followers many Twitter users had on May 10, 2010. After discovering a bug that allowed users to force other users to follow them without their consent, Twitter admins reset many account holders’ follower counts to zero while they resolved the issue.

On April 3, Apple released the newest member of its uber-popular family into the world, and technophiles were so jazzed that they snapped up over 600,000 iPads in five short days. But Apple-hungry consumers weren’t the only ones who were excited about the iPad—most* of the web’s biggest social players were pretty darned enthused as well, and they weren’t afraid to show it:

Google: To take full advantage of the large iPad screen, Google reformatted Gmail. The two-column display is basically an enhanced version of the single column Gmail for Mobile app that was created for the iPhone and Android. (Some Gmail users even argue that Gmail for the iPad is an enhanced version of traditional Gmail and are going to great lengths to make it their desktop default.)
Flickr: The photo and video sharing site gleefully announced on its blog that it would be making its videos iPad-compatible by introducing HTML5 playback. (Until very recently, nearly all websites embedded videos using Flash, but since the iPad doesn’t support Flash, sites are switching their vids over to HTML5 to keep up.)  
WordPress: WordPress also trumpeted its foray into iPad territory on its blog (a move that was actually quite apropos and vaguely existential). The blogging website has released a new version of its iPhone app that’s compatible with the iPad and comes equipped with all sorts of fun features like the ability to geotag blog updates.
YouTube: I found nary a peep about the iPad on the YouTube blog, but Apple was very vocal on the video giant’s behalf. The iPad comes with a built-in YouTube app, which, like big brother Gmail, is formatted to suit the iPad screen.
Facebook: Facebook has been making apps for Apple products since the beginning of time, so everyone was waiting to see what it had in store for the iPad. As it turns out, what it had in store was nothing. More accurately, a Facebook app was in the works for the iPad, but its life was cut short when its programmer took issue with the App Store screening process and quit the project. Some Tom, Dick, or Steve did create a Facebook app called Facebook Ultimate, but it developed a horrible reputation among iPad users (and infringed on the Facebook copyright to boot) and Apple has since removed it from the App Store. There is a bit of hope for the disgruntled Facebook user, and it comes in the form of http://touch.facebook.com/, which is a stripped down version of regular old Facebook that fits better on the iPad screen.
    
*Twitter is conspicuously absent from this list, and with good reason—the micro-blogging phenom didn’t go to any lengths to adapt itself to the iPad. Happily for tweet-o-holics, however, the App Store has been flooded with third-party Twitter apps (the ones from TweetDeck and Twitterific are said to be particularly excellent) that pick up the slack. 

If you’re one of the lucky few techies who’s already gotten his hands on an iPad, go ahead and tweet, blog, email, or update your Facebook status about how you’re tweeting, blogging, emailing, or updating your Facebook status with your all-powerful fingertips. Those of us old-fashioned mice-and-keyboard folks will be mighty jealous indeed.

One of the biggest arguments for encouraging businesses to invest in social media marketing is that they’ll be able to monitor what customers are saying about their brand, guide the conversations, address issues that arise, and generally be more in-tune with how their brand is perceived. Regardless of whether or not you currently use social media to market your business, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve been touched by a company’s social media monitoring efforts. Well, provided you were one of the over 100 million people who tuned in to the Super Bowl on Sunday to watch the ads as well as the game, that is.

The ad in question wafted onto the TV screen during the third quarter, it lasted a warm and fuzzy minute, and then it faded to black. The ad was from Google, but it wasn’t hawking Google Chrome or Google Android or Google ISP or any of the other new products and services that keep cropping up in the Google-verse. Nope, the ad featured the most basic Google service of all—its search engine:



The ad (called “Parisian Love”) was certainly a hit—a number of outlets have reported that it was one of the most talked-about ads of Super Bowl XLIV —but it also left many people scratching their heads. Google never advertises on TV, why would they spend $6 million to start now? Does Google feel threatened by Bing? Who hasn’t heard of Google search? (To be fair, though, everyone’s heard of Budweiser too, yet we still see their Clydesdales prance through every single Super Bowl.) 

"Parisian Love" wasn’t actually intended to attract the Super Bowl audience to the search engine that made Google famous and still brings in nearly all of its revenue. In fact, the ad wasn’t originally intended to air during the Super Bowl at all. It was created by Google’s creative team and posted to Google’s YouTube channel almost three months ago as one in a series of promotional “Search Stories” videos. The purpose of these videos is not to promote a Google service, but rather to contribute to Google’s “don’t be evil” image. 

According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt , “Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it's had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience,” said Schmidt. In other words, Google’s monitoring efforts directly influenced their Super Bowl presence. Google could have chosen to remain off-air, they could have put that $6 million toward something else, but when you already know your ad’s a winner (a luxury most other Super Bowl advertisers don’t have. Ahem, Taco Bell.) heck, what’s $6 mil?

And judging by "Parisian Love"’s reported popularity, I think I can safely speak for much of the Super Bowl audience when I say that when that familiar search bar popped up on our TV screens, we put down our buffalo wings and our tasty beverages, we watched, we smiled, and when the “Search On” tag line popped up we sighed, “Well gee wiz, Google! That was an unexpected treat! I wonder if I have any new e-mail.” If you’re already sure that your ad is going to illicit nearly 100 million responses like that, well, what’s $6 mil indeed!     

So, you’ve joined some social media sites and you’ve cobbled together a pretty nice collection of followers. Now the question is, “What the heck are you gonna do with them?” You can’t spam them with self-promotion because they’ll leave. You can’t ignore them because you won’t see any return on your initial social media investments. What you can do—nay, what you should do, is talk to them. After all, the ability to interact with customers, to personalize your company, and to seem like an approachable expert forms the basis of social media’s appeal.

Not sure what to talk about? Not to fear--we’ve come up with six examples of ways you can engage with your social media audience. (For consistency’s sake, we’re assuming that “you” are a fictional florist called Brenda’s Blooms in our examples.)

• Call fans to action with your status updates. EX: When the weather’s nice, post an update to Twitter, Facebook, or your blog encouraging your followers to take pictures of flowers they find during the day and post them to your wall. You could also set up a Flickr Group where your followers could post flower pictures as often as they like. Be sure to comment on as many entries as possible and ask your followers to share the project with their friends so more people can contribute to your virtual bouquet.

• Ask fans questions and solicit their opinions. EX: Ask people which blooms they associate with the season. Come up with a few new arrangements for Valentine’s Day/Mother’s Day/birthdays and ask your followers to vote on their favorite design. Find out what everyone’s favorite scent is.

• Continue a conversation that someone else has started. EX: If one of your fans compliments the centerpieces that you designed for her friend’s wedding, thank her, mention an enjoyable exchange that you had with the bride, keep the conversation going by asking a question if you can (“Mrs. Bride said she was having trouble deciding on a honeymoon destination. Did she opt for Bermuda or Niagara Falls?”)

• Update about something unrelated to your business. EX: If you couldn’t live without your Keurig coffee pot, go ahead and tweet about it. Seriously! A few of your followers might feel the same way and suddenly you’ve made a connection on a whole different level. The general rule is that up to 20% of your updates can be more personal than professional.

• Start conversations with others in your industry. EX: Comment on well-known blogs and related YouTube videos, and then share them with your followers if you think they’d find the information useful. If you’re following Francine’s Flowers on Twitter and you like one of her tweets, respond with an @FrancinesFlowers tweet of your own.
   
• Seek out conversations using a social listening service like Technorati or Radian6. EX: Is “Brenda’s Blooms” or “boutonniere” a trending topic on Twitter or in the blogosphere? If so, you might want to add your two cents. Just make sure what you say is valuable (if girls are all a-Twitter about whether or not they should buy boutonnieres for their prom dates, your tweet could read, “Boutonnieres look very sharp when coordinated w/ tuxes and suits & are inexpensive when made with just 1 rose.”)
   

Remember that your followers are logged in to the networks because they want to interact, and they chose to follow you because they want to connect. Oblige them before they start collecting dust!

Social media marketing is without a doubt one of the most innovative new ways to put your business on the map. After all, can you think of a time in the history of your traditional advertising campaigns that someone “liked” a product announcement? Retweeted a promotional offer? Dugg your TV ad after they found it on YouTube? Probably not, and that’s because, unlike traditional marketing techniques that focus on talking at your customers, social media marketing techniques encourage you to talk with your customers. Of course, it’s pretty tough to have these conversations with a non-existent fan base. So if your social media pages are sitting alone at the lunch table, you might consider using some of the following tips to help them make some friends.

Announce Yourself

• Suggest the pages to friends and family first. Those closest to you would probably be more than happy to support your business. Many social media channels have “Share” and “Suggest” options; if yours doesn’t, a quick e-mail will do just as nicely.
• Let your employees know that your business is on social networks and ask them to suggest the pages to their friends and family as well.
• Send out an e-mail blast to your mailing list announcing your presence on social networks. You already know these customers want to hear from you, so why not tell them about other channels they can use to get the scoop?

Don’t Stop Promoting 

• Post button links to your social media sites prominently on your website so a new visitor who might not have heard of you can find your pages. These links will also direct visitors who want to learn more, leave feedback, or interact with you to the right place.
  *You can find all kinds of pre-made buttons simply by doing a Google image search for “YouTube button,” “Twitter button,” etc. 
• Tell everyone you correspond with about your social media presence by including those same buttons in every e-mail or snail mail you send out. 
• If you are spending money on offline advertising (newspapers, sponsorships, radio spots, direct-mailers) be sure to include references to your social media accounts within those ads, too.
• Advertise your page on Facebook with a Facebook Ad (if you're already a Facebook user, you've seen these on the right-hand side of your screen). You create the ad using Facebook’s advertising tool, you decide which Facebook users you want to target, and you set the budget for your Pay-Per-Click campaign.
• Run a give-away contest on your pages from time to time. Your gifts don’t have to be extravagant (consider a gift card or a coupon for a product or service). If you run the contest on Facebook, ask your fans to suggest your page to a friend or two and leave a comment with the friends’ names. Put your promoters’ names into a hat and draw a winner. If you run the contest on Twitter, ask your followers to retweet one of your messages (ie: “I just entered to win abc from @CompanyXYZ”) and make all re-tweeters eligible for the drawing.

The best thing you can do for your social media marketing efforts is spread the word! Once people know you’re there, your social stock is bound to increase. 
 

While working on last week’s post about how healthcare professionals can benefit from social networking, I happened upon a wealth of information about why they should participate in the social network arena on the Pew Internet website. It was far too much territory to cover in one blog entry, but when a renowned think-tank devotes an entire section of its site to exploring the impact of the Web on healthcare, the topic warrants a second week on the blog.

According to Pew, social networks are two-way streets. Sure, doctors and hospitals can use them to tout their services and establish legitimacy, but more often than not, web-savvy patients (sometimes referred to as “e-patients”) search social networks for information related to their illness and wellness. Gone are the days of calling mom about a lingering cold or asking the neighbor which SPF to take to the beach. Now, Pew reports, “some 61 percent of Americans go online for health information,” and 20 percent of those web users read blogs, listen to podcasts, and pose questions in their Facebook statues to find the answers to health-related questions. Thirty-five percent of adults have social network accounts, but many social media enthusiasts are minorities and young folks who might be more prone to visit Google than their physicians when health issues arise. By updating social network pages with health and wellness tips, doctors and hospitals make reliable information available to e-patients who might have otherwise found flimsy advice elsewhere on the Web. Once a patient finds a helpful tip on a healthcare provider’s social network page, he or she can easily pass the source on to others.

Once they’re comfortable on a social network or two, healthcare providers can also use them to connect patients with support groups that could offer encouragement and sympathy. Online support groups are particularly useful for patients who are homebound or suffer from especially rare diseases and also serve to augment the doctor-patient relationship, but they aren’t the only support options available to doctors and hospitals on social networks. The CDC recently found that people who received daily reminders via social media to wear sunscreen were twice as likely to do so as those who did not receive reminders. Doctors and hospitals, too, could use social media to promote healthy behavior and post encouraging tips for those struggling with disease.

 As was mentioned last week, many doctors don’t have time to tweet and Facebook the workday away, and some who have personal social network accounts fear that patients will use them to seek advice and diagnoses when their physicians are out of the office and off the clock. There are a few doctors who don’t mind occasionally receiving private Facebook messages from patients with minor bumps and bruises, but the best solution for those who do mind is a professional social network account like a Facebook Fan page or specialized Twitter account. Doctors can pass the responsibilities of maintaining these accounts to qualified companies (like i5 web works), direct their patients to these pages when they’re seeking health information, and reserve their personal pages for interactions with friends and family.

Since joining Facebook this past summer, i5 web works has endeavored to learn as much as possible about the impact that the social networking phenomenon is having on business promotion. Our conclusion? Even though there’s no way to measure how Facebook, Twitter, et al are driving customers to your business, social marketing is nevertheless a great way to communicate with hundreds (or even thousands) of people about your brand in real-time and a free way to advertise your services.

As I’ve mentioned before, i5 web works offers a social networking set up and maintainence service, and we’ve discovered that it’s usually fairly simple to concoct content for companies to share with the masses since most of them are free to talk about most every service they provide. Organizations in one sector of the market, though, must be discreet about what they post online or risk incurring the ire of Uncle Sam.
 
The medical community is bound by HIPAA laws and professional ethics to keep patient information private and to maintain an appropriately distant doctor-patient relationship. In recent months, a number of outlets have reported that medical students (and even some doctors) have revealed inappropriate information about themselves and/or their patients on social networks. However, this does not mean that the medical community is prohibited from enjoying the advantages of social marketing. In fact, this Hospital Social Networking List currently contains links to over 241 Facebook Pages, 323 Twitter accounts, and 213 YouTube channels of state licensed hospitals, and more hospitals are being added to the list daily.
 
And just how are doctors and hospitals using these social networking tools? By posting tips about staying healthy, links to helpful information and articles about medical breakthroughs, and pictures from events (like Race for the Cure and toy drives) that the staff has either participated in or hosted. Some doctors have even tweeted during heart surgery (without revealing any indentifying personal information, of course) and others have used social networks to update their patients about the swine flu.

Truth be told, there is so much that medical professionals can share on social networks that they might be hard pressed to find time to update their accounts with all of the information. I5 web works has the time and the skills to maintain medical social network accounts and keep patients informed.