Social Media on Main Street

In October, Facebook reached more than half (55 percent) of the world’s global audience and accounted for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online around the world and 3 in every 4 social networking minutes. Focus on Facebook and your business will have serious social media success. Social media has taken over the web globally. This report shows how much social media networks are used throughout the globe.

According to Experian Hitwise, Google+'s total monthly US visits have more than doubled since November. 49 million visits were recorded in December 2011 -- the biggest month to date.

See how iPad is transforming teaching and learning at all levels!

 

There is something about taking a computer and striping away hardware, making it mobile, and giving it a tactile interface that makes it almost completely accessible to anyone at any age. Less to get in the way...

 

Obviously more of an Apple commercial then anything, but there are some good points in the video about learning, and how Mobile devices in general are changing our learning experience.

 

I like the quote in the video from the 3rd year medical student: "The future of medicine is going to be not so much how much knowledge you can hold in you head but how much knowledge you can put your hands on and access at any given point in time."

 

When planning or developing mobile apps keep in mind that you need a CROSS-MOBILE STRATEGY since iPhone/iPad apps are not king anymore. As reported in this article "Android is the biggest operating system" for smart phones now. But keep things in perspective only 63% of handset mobile devices in the US are smartphones and only 27% worldwide. It is all changing fast. MY ADVICE: develop HTML 5 mobile apps, not compiled Apple OS apps where you have to turn over 30% of your sales to Apple.

Here is video of a real life small business in NY City using Social Media and seeing a benefit. It's more specifically about Twitter but the tips and strategy would also apply to a Facebook page. Business owner Kenny Lao of Rickshaw Dumpling makes this great point based on his experience: "Using Social Media has definitely contributed to our bottom line but more so it has contributed to that kind of soft unquantifiable marketing persona that brands get where you are just out there and a lot of people have heard of you." Three Great Tips from Kenny: 1. Pick a message to convey; 2. Be consistent; 3. Have fun. Simple Social Media Tips but true and effective.

Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis reports that "Sometime in the last couple of days, the monthly active users (MAU) of Facebook’s mobile apps passed 300m." From my experience a Facebook Business Page and active regular posting is still the lowest cost and simplest way to get on the mobile device and before your customers or clients on a regular basis.

The Android smartphone beats the iPhone into the Pentagon. "Android has made its first inroad into the Department of Defense. And while it’s not much of one, it is a start. In its latest Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG), the Pentagon okayed Android 2.2 for use on Defense Department computer networks, but with a number of caveats and limitations."

Social Media has been sucking up much of the creative and investment energy over the past several years in Internet development, but now a lot of Venture Capital is heading in the direction of eCommerce. Is eCommerce the next big Thing? "The over­all invest­ment of ven­ture cap­i­tal in the e-com­merce field has has­tened recent­ly, accord­ing to the report. After more than a year of rel­a­tive weak­ness, e-com­merce began attract­ing lots of VC money in late 2010. Although the invest­ments declined quarter-over-quarter in the third quar­ter of 2011, the quan­ti­ty of deals and total dol­lars invest­ed was still more than dou­ble what it had been dur­ing the third quar­ter of 2010."

Facebook analytics or as Facebook puts it "Insights".  It has improved and is now more useful. They have done a great job of going beyond the numbers to present impact.

 

If you have a Facebook Business Page you need to read this article and study the cheat sheet. Facebook Insights is a goldmine of useful data to help you understand how your page is helping to get your message out to your clients and customers.

 

"Facebook algorithms place greater emphasis on the number of 'stories' your Page is producing and sparking between users."