Posts Tagged "Research"

Social Media Revolution… Reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution.

Posted by Avi Savar on Nov 24, 2009 in News & Information, Research & Trends | 1 comment

The Future of the Social Web is here today and we’re learning that engagement is not a matter of if or when, but to what extent, how and what value can we deliver and derive from it. The Social Web is much more than a window into information and interaction, it is a completely transformative medium that is changing how we forge relationships, interact with one another, and distribute and discover information. In many ways, the online social revolution is reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution.

Access to free and expansive media platforms and distribution channels has democratized influence and shifted the power of authority from those who previously controlled the media to those who disseminate it.

Attention has become a precious commodity as it becomes increasingly elusive and diverted. The competition for attention is only intensifying as those who benefit from your awareness venture to attract it when and where it is focused.

According to a 2007 story in the New York Times, market research firm Yankelovich estimated that a person living in an average city 30 years ago saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day, compared with up to 5,000 today. The numbers vary depending on the source, with estimates soaring as high as 9,000 estimated impressions daily. I can only surmise that with the proliferation of socialized media, that we are also directly and indirectly exposed to messages and brands as a result of conversations transpiring within our social graph.

As consumers, we are starting to fathom that our attention is valuable. We are also experiencing a powerful form of validation and significance as we embrace social media to extend our networks of relevance and influence. There is a great sense of individual empowerment that exudes as a result of this realization.

The battle for attention begins where your attention is focused. For some, it’s the Facebook News Feed. For others, it’s Twitter or desktop social applications such as TweetDeck or Seesmic. These platforms are fueling an emerging category that symbolizes the Attention Dashboard, channels where information finds you, filtered and qualified by those in your social graph.

Forrester Research observed the substantial growth of social technologies in 2009, observing that four in five US online adults use social media and participate in social networks.

In a published report, The Broad Reach of Social Technologies, Sean Corcoran, Nate Elliott, Josh Bernoff, Cynthia Pflaum, and Emily Bowen documented that the most rapid growth of social adoption occurred among consumers 35 and older while young people continued to march toward a universal adoption of social applications.

The report includes an updated version of Forrester’s Social Technographics Ladder, which graphs the social technology adoption of consumers and how they specifically embrace social media.

Almost one-quarter of US online adults are Creators, people who write blogs, upload original audio or video, or post stories online. Easy-to-use blogging tools encouraged some less tech-savvy adults to create social content this year, but the majority of consumers are still consuming, not creating, content.

Half of online adults now belong to social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, a 46% growth rate year-over-year.

Nearly everyone’s a spectator: Three in four online Americans now consume social content.

Only 18% of US online adults don’t use social tools in 2009 — down from 25% in 2008.

Regardless of adoption, however, one of the primary hurdles now and in the future is that Social Media, as popular and empowering as it is, is still a largely compartmentalized experience. Social Networks and the relationships and interactivity fostered within each are silos. The true power of social media is the portability of not just content, but relationships.

Forrester concludes that now is the time to build social marketing applications and that Interactive marketers should influence social network chatter, master social communication, and develop social assets – even if their customers are older.

The social (r)evolution calls for distributed participation. But it requires strategic engagement that is directed and governed by listening and research. The conversations tied to keywords that are important to your industry define your participation level and focus. They also reveal opportunities for contribution and resolution.

Source: Shutterstock

Now is the time to pay attention. Now is the time to learn from the behavior and interaction that defines our markets. They develop and mature with or without our participation. We too, are empowered to engage and without it, we intentionally remove ourselves from the radar screens of our influencers and customers. As such, we are either part of or absent from the decision making process.

The state of socialized media is but only a chapter in an ongoing saga that will evolve and change over time. We are forever students of new media and as a result, our roles in this production are defined by our intentions and our actions. Before we are marketers, we are consumers. And, before we are consumers, we are personages of distinction. And when we align under a common goal, mission, or voice, we can change the course of behavior.

This article was originally written / contributed by Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks.

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5 Eye-Popping Stats about Twitters billion dollar valuation…

Posted by Avi Savar on Oct 6, 2009 in Research & Trends | 0 comments

A week after Twitter raised a reported 100 million dollars in it’s fifth round of funding, there has been much speculation about… well, pretty much anything and everything Twitter-ish.  I came across a posting by Ben Parr on Mashable that listed 5 stats from a recent research report, these numbers are just insane:

Twitter’s Value: 5 Eye-Popping Stats

• According to PEDC’s numbers, the price of a single share of Twitter has increased by 239,619%, from a measly $0.00667 per share to a much stronger $15.9824
• Twitter’s $100 million round is over 1025 times the amount of money they raised in its very first round of funding. In July of 2007, Twitter raised $97,500.
• In five rounds of funding, Twitter has raised an estimated $153 million some peg it a few million dollars higher. Since the day of its initial round of funding, Twitter has been given an average of $187,356 per day by its investors.
• Using that same time frame and its current $1 billion valuation, Twitter’s worth has grown by $1,223,990 per day. If you start with the day of Twitter’s inception the first tweet from Twitter’s Inventor and Chairman, Jack Dorsey, then Twitter’s worth has grown by around $772,797 per day.
• Twitter has yet to make a single cent in profit. We’ll let you be the judge of what that means.

Data table courtesy of the PEDC, Image courtesy of iStockphoto iStockphoto, tforgo

via Twitter’s Value: 5 Eye-Popping Stats.

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100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Twitter Research

Posted by Avi Savar on Sep 30, 2009 in Research & Trends | 0 comments

Twitter has exploded into a must-track resource for news, rants, consumer reports, public health, shopping deals and emerging trends. But if you’re looking for something or someone specific, how can you expect to carve out a niche and listen in on just a single thread of conversation? Our list of 100 tips, tools and resources for Twitter research will help you keep it all together.

Directories and People

Expand your network and locate specific tweeters using these directories.

1. Twitterholic: Find out who the most popular Twitter users are at any given moment.
2. Social Brand Index: Use this directory to find competitors and potential clients on Twitter.
3. WeFollow: This directory categorizers users by tagging.
4. Twellow: Twellow is a popular people directory for Twitter users. Search by location, friends, followers, keyword or by category.
5. Who Should I Follow?: Let this tool help you find new friends on Twitter.
6. Tracking Twitter: Discover which Twitter feeds are the most popular in media, entertainment and consumer products.
7. Just Tweet It: Find people to follow by clicking on industry categories like education, domainers, aviation, filmmakers and more.
8. twibs: With twibs, you can look up businesses who tweet.
9. twittervision: Find random tweeters whose conversations pop up on a Google map.
10. Twemes: Twemes is another word for hashtags, and this site follows popular subject matter and keywords.
11. Tweeter Tags: Declare your tweets by tagging yourself on this site. Then, find other like-minded users to follow and research.
12. Twitter Fan Wiki: This research source finds conversations, non-person Twitterers, feature requests, fakers, media and more.
13. TwitterPacks: Find people according to their “pack” or interest group, like coaching, baby boomers, or organizing experts.
14. Twubble: With Twubble, you can find more friends and popular Twitter users.
15. GovTwit: Find Twitter names for government agencies and people here.

Conversations

Search for keywords, buzzed-about topics and more to direct your attention to the conversations that matter.

1. Twitter Search: Twitter’s official search page looks for keywords in current conversations.
2. Tweet Scan: Search Twitter conversations by category or keyword.
3. TwitterScoop: Find friends, search buzz-worthy topics, and more.
4. Tweet Volume: Find out if the subjects you’re searching for are popping up in Twitter conversations or are yesterday’s news.
5. Tweetmeme: Tweetmeme is a social bookmarking site for popular Twitter conversations.
6. Twitterment: This simplified search engine brings up conversations for all kinds of keywords.
7. Twitter Forge: Twitter Forge in TwitTown has 10 different directories and search tools.
8. Tweet Congress: Use Tweet Congress to find tweets from Congressmen and women.
9. LegalBirds: LegalBirds is a Twitter directory for the legal crowd.
10. Geofollow: Add yourself, update your Twitter feed and search for others on this site.
11. Twitterectory: Twitterectory features a search engine, tag cloud and directory of Twitter profiles.

Organization

Keep your notes, replies, surveys and research organized so that all your hard work isn’t lost forever.

1. Twhirl: This social software platform connects to Twitter, displays notifications of new messages, shortens URLs, cross-posts updates to other sites and more.
2. Twitter Karma: Quickly paginate through your friends listing. Sort alphabetically or by another system so that it’s easier to view your friends.
3. Tweet Clouds: View your tweets as a word cloud.
4. Twitter Notes: Take and tag notes from Twitter using this tool.
5. My Tweeple: Better organize all your friends and followers with this tool.
6. Foamee: Keep up with who owes who how many drinks with this tool.
7. Twitterator: This script will help you stay organized while monitoring groups of people.
8. GroupTweet: Privately tweet with your project group members using GroupTweet.
9. Twickie: Archive and organize Twitter response threads here.

Add-ons and Tools

Add these tools to your Twitter experience to make researching and indexing even easier.

1. Twitt Poll: Create polls to find out what your Twitter friends think on a particular subject.
2. Twitter Answers: Send out questions into the Twittersphere to get answers and opinions from your followers.
3. Twitter Snipe: Use this tool to auto follow users based on your niche.
4. TwitPic: Use TwitPic to share, browse and upload photos to Twitter.
5. Trazzler Buzz: Use this tool to research deals and news for travel, museums, music and more.
6. Twit Bear: Keep up with all the replies regarding a particular conversation or subject matter.
7. Google Search with Twitter integration: This script combines the best of Twitter and Google.
8. TBuzz: When surfing the web, discover each site’s tweet history.
9. PicFog: Conduct a Twitter image search here.
10. peekr: Check out Twitter backgrounds before opening up the whole page.
11. Twitter Toolbar for Firefox: Download this toolbar to quickly access Twitter or your favorite Twitter feeds.

Guides

Let these guides help you become a master tweeter.

1. Twitter as Target Market Research Tool: Find out how you can use Twitter to grow your business, attract clients and stand out.
2. 33 Reasons to Use Twitter – a Guide to Finding Value in the Service!: Here you’ll get tips for using Twitter for business and personal gain.
3. The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter: Learn how to set up a profile, find things to tweet about, decide when to tweet and more.
4. Mastering Twitter in 10 Minutes or Less (Version 2): Quickly learn how to navigate Twitter with this download.
5. Using Twitter ‘the Smart Way’: Get tips on choosing a user name and staying organized here.
6. How to Search Twitter – the Advanced Guide: This guide outlines the steps needed to effectively use Twitter’s official search function.
7. 6 Twitter Search Services Compared: This guide compares Twitter Search, Twazzup, Tweetzi, and other search tools.
8. Twitter Research: Why and How to Do It: Twitip.com has tips for using Twitter for historical research and more.
9. Using Twitter for Market Research: Grow your business by taking note of these research tips and tools.

Filters and Niche Search

Block out all the miscellaneous Twitter noise and use these tools to focus on the conversations and research you’re interested in.

1. bkkeepr: This tracker keeps up with reading lists and more.
2. FoodFeed: If you only want to research tweets related to what people are eating, head to this feed.
3. Localtweeps: Filter tweets by zip code using this tool.
4. Commuter Feed: View traffic reports for Houston, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, LA, New York and other top metro areas.
5. Twitter Job Search: Research job openings here.
6. Twitter filter: This Greasemonkey script lets you filter out any kind of annoying tweets.
7. Omnee: Filter your list of people to research or follow by first checking this site. Omnee categorizes users by the ones with the most social capital, most reach, least centralized, and more.
8. Stop the tweet spam! Two ways to filter Twitter into Facebook: Streamline your updates and social media research here.
9. TwitZap: Keep your Twitter page open and active without having to refresh it.
10. Cursebird: Keep track of the latest posts that contain curse words.

Analytics

Analytics is a vital part of any research project. These tools will help you get the stats on your account, other users’ influence, trends, website popularity, and more.

1. TwitterCounter: Get stats for other users here.
2. TweetStats: View Twitter feed stats in bar graph form.
3. TwitterSpy: Keep an eye on the most recent tweets coming from a particular location.
4. TweetBeep: TweetBeep alerts you via email when preferred conversations and keywords are tweeted.
5. MyTweetMap: This tool displays tweets by location on a Google Map.
6. SiteVolume: Find out how often a phrase, word or website is tweeted about.
7. Tweetburner: Track URLs as they appear on Twitter.
8. Twist: Twist lets you compare the stats for keywords, topics and more.
9. Twitalyzer: Use Twitalzyer to discover the influence of different Twitter users.
10. Twitstat Mobile: Look up analytics from your mobile phone using this tool.

Trackers

Track trends, follows, conversations and people using these tools.

1. tweet140: This tool tracks the length of your tweets.
2. Twitt(url)y: Track popular URLs that appear on Twitter to find out what people are talking about.
3. Does Follow: Organically expand your network by following people your friends follow.
4. twAITer: Schedule tweets for a future release and track your overall feed here.
5. Friend or Follow: Quickly double check who’s following you with this tool.
6. Tracking Twitter: Track brands, celebrities, media and TV tweets using this tool.
7. Twistori: Hover over an emotion like love, hate, think, believe, feel or wish and read the upcoming posts that incorporate that feeling.
8. Tweetizen: Use Tweetizen to create groups and track stories and posts that are meaningful to you.
9. Twitterfall: Filter trends or do a custom search to see upcoming posts in a free-fall format.

Tips

For better research through Twitter, follow these tips and suggestions.

1. Tweet during peak hours: Many people are tuned in to Twitter during the work week and during work hours, so you’ll have a better chance of reaching your subjects then.
2. Use a Twitter management tool: Use a tool like TweetDeck to easily organize your groups, updates and more, so that your research doesn’t get lost.
3. Use Advanced Search: Try Twitter’s Advanced Search tool to find people, places, dates and more.
4. Follow the competition: Market researchers should follow their competition on Twitter to learn about any deals or tricks they have going on.
5. Tweet about what’s hot: Join buzzed-about conversations and stories and find a way to relate your project to the mix.
6. Update your subjects: Keep your Twitter subjects up to date on your progress so that they know how they’ve helped you.
7. Ask lots of questions: Keep asking questions through Twitter to get a broad range of responses from everyone who follows you.
8. Use a variety of Twitter directories: You’ll encounter some repetition, but by using several different Twitter directories, you’ll also stumble across new people who can help you that you may have discounted at first.
9. Follow experts: Follow the tweets of an expert in your field to get routed to sensible, quality information.
10. Stay organized: It can be hard to keep up with all the tweets, replies and updates from everyone you’re following, so use groups, alerts and other tools to organize it all.
11. Put it all into context: Tweetree displays your Twitter stream as a tree with all replies organized by context.
12. Use different accounts: Don’t confuse your subjects or yourself by managing different research projects from a single account. Manage different accounts with a service like Hootsutie
13. List your credentials: Don’t freak people out by asking for their information without providing your own credentials.
14. Post a photo and your real name: People will be more likely to help you out if you present a valid name and photo.
15. Conduct surveys: Use survey tools to find out how your followers feel about a particular subject.
16. Back up your Twitter: Use a service like Tweetake to make sure your research and notations are safe.

Thanks to Kelly Sonora, SelectCourses.com

100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Twitter Research | SociableBlog.com : Social Media Blog.

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Majority of US Consumers Peeved by Internet Ads

Posted by Avi Savar on Aug 22, 2009 in Research & Trends | 0 comments

At the same time as many internet advertisers are ramping up their web advertising efforts, the majority of US consumers say they are very frustrated by many common types of internet ads, according to a recent study by Harris Interactive, which cites pop-ups, ads that are “moused over,” difficult-to-close ads, and musical ads as some of the worst offenders.

Ads that spread across the page and cover the content beneath them are the most vexing for consumers, with 80% of respondents in the study deeming these types to be very frustrating. Ads on which consumers can’t find the skip or close button are a close second, with 79% of respondents similarly annoyed, the survey found.

• Read more about this study here

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Research Report: Opportunities In Online Video

Posted by Avi Savar on Jul 14, 2009 in Research & Trends | 1 comment

The mantra from networks has long been that online entertainment will never replace the experience of watching TV in the living room, but is this accurate? Short form video is now being viewed by 43% of internet users at least once a week and it’s perceived as being equally or more entertaining than television by 37% of the online public, according to a new research report from Frank N. Magid Associates, sponsored by video entertainment portal Metacafe. Seven in ten of males 18-24, the power users of the genre to be sure, view online video weekly. Consumer-created and uploaded clips are still the most popular particularly among young males, accounting for 42% of videos viewed among males 12-17. Yet people of all ages and both genders are watching short professional videos online – ranging from males 25-34, where 64% of this group is watching such content, to females 55-64, 39% of whom view it. Other interesting findings include:

• Over half of TV viewers go online while watching TV; 13% report dong so “all the time”
• 70% of weekly online video viewers play video games regularly, compared to 47% of non-online video viewers
• 41% own a personal digital media player for music and video vs. 23% of non viewers
• 28% rent DVDs weekly (vs. 17%)
• 11% own a smartphone, compared to 7% of non-online video viewers

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