1. Design in a vacuum
2. Add every gadget you can think of
3. Drag every warm body you can in
4. Resist engaging with participants
5. Think size not quality
6. Think money not quality
7. Think noise not quality
8. Think pages not access choices
9. Think pontificating not listening
10. Think statistics not value

She goes into a lot of detail in this video:

You of course would never willingly kill your community. With the social media age upon us, all businesses need to keep in mind that the customer base is now community and think about whether they are cultivating or killing that community.

There is a service called twitter
A place to shine and to glitter
And in one forty letters
Prove that you’re better
To all of the bloggers so bitter

Well. . . I’m not completely sure that twitter is “better” than blogging, but brevity certainly reaches more people. Very few are willing to take the time to read an entire article, but 140 characters here and there is just the thing. I think that in 5 years there will be more minimalistic post sites built on software like StatusNet (formerly laconica) than there are blogging sites now.

What do you think? (Limericks of your own are welcome)

That could not be further from the truth as 2009 comes to a close.   Now according to Inside Facebook, the ads featured on Facebook are actually pulling in money—a lot of money.

In Depth: Discussing Facebook’s Advertising Future with VP of Global Sales Mike Murphy:

“Facebook has grown total revenues to around $550 million this year, with about 90% of its revenues in our estimation coming from advertising.”

It took some time for Facebook ads to prove their value to the social network.  This is due to the perfect combination of smart marketing from the Facebook company and the shift in user demographic.

The kind of advertisements that CNN cited and that I wrote about are those annoying banners and brand graphics that can clutter your page.  Although these still exist on the right side of your Facebook profile (that often ask me if I need to lose stubborn belly fat—hm a sign?) the banner-type ads are slowly diminishing.  The way the Facebook crew made this happen is actually pretty clever and also pretty obvious.

Vice President of Global Sales for Facebook Mike Murphy explainedthe simple solution to making ads more welcome to social networkers: “We realized quickly that the better we did to display advertising as part of our product, the better we delivered value to our users and advertisers. So we’ve been really focused on developing ad units that include social context so that they feel more like the rest of the content on Facebook.”

This “developing of ad units that include social context” is simply Facebook Pages. I’m sure we have all been ‘fans’ at one time or another.  Murphy also said, “what has become Pages today was actually originally sponsored groups.”

The concept of Facebook–creating a profile to connect with others–was applied to the way the site displays its sponsored brands.  The Pages allow brands to interact with customers in the massive Facebook community.

Another reason for the increase in ad revenue is because Facebook isn’t just for kids.  Inside Facebook cites that 48% of Facebook users are over the age of 35, which is pretty impressive for a social network synonymous with college life.  In this tough economy not many of us have much money in the first place, but if I were to look for someone with money I definitely would not begin with my 21-year-old peers.  Facebook now hosts a high percentage of people (age 35+) who are likely to have an established career with steady income.  The social site is therefore becoming a hot spot for big brands to push products and market services using a friendly approach via Pages.

Of course we at Abraham Harrison are cool enough to have a Facebook page, become a fan!

So next time you log in, check out your favorite brand-Pages and know that they contribute a hefty amount to the maintenance of the site that has become an addiction for so many .

Before I get much more entrenched in this terrible cheerleading metaphor, let me introduce myself.  My name is Ellie Brown and I am a graduate student at American University getting a master’s degree in Public Communication.

I am very excited to begin working with Abraham Harrison since I am quickly learning that knowledge of social media is an important skill for any communication career I pursue after graduating.  My social media use currently includes sharing my pictures from the weekend with my friends on Facebook and, I admit, the dreaded “what I ate” tweet (@elliebrown1).  But I’m beginning to see the vast possibilities for social media – especially how I can explore my interest in Africa and the application of social media and mobile technology there.

Before returning to grad school at American I worked for three years at a research and consulting firm called Abt Associates, Inc. in the international health division.  I worked closely with Ministries of Health in Kenya, Uganda and Namibia to improve the transparency and reliability of health financing policy. I was so lucky to have the opportunity to do something I loved for work…see the world.  I’ll never forget the times I was “working” among the elephants, lions and baboons in Kenya.

Although I miss my trips to Africa, I’m looking forward to learning more about social media and in the process, embracing my inner geek.

Listen to this article:

Google Wave is just a glorified threaded message board. Okay, so it’s a threaded message board with “real time” and widgets. . . ooooo. . .

Threaded message boards have been around forever, adding a couple bells and whistles doesn’t make them suddenly new and fantastic. In fact my first experience online back in the 90s involved the use of a class held on a threaded message board called Caucus. It’s nothing new. Though, I admit, threaded message boards are nice.

It’s nice to have a hosted conversation. A place where everyone meets, either at the same time or asynchronously, but that’s not the one size fits all solution to messaging. Sometimes an inbox and a conversation that can reach out to wherever you happen to be, whatever level of device you happen to be using, is the right solution. Email reaches more devices, because email is light and malleable. Email displays on simple monochrome phones to giant graphics editing ready computers.

“But wait,” you say, “It’s got this cool feature, and that cool feature, and you can start your own wave server, and your waves on your wave server can be shared with people on other wave servers and and and. . .”

That’s all well and neat, and more than likely useful, but the fact is, Google Wave is heavier than email. Light weight and malleable will always be needed. Email will always be around. Google wave will be a nice service, that some people use, just like some people use message boards now. It’ll be nice, it’ll be around, it’ll be as cool as any message board, but it’s not really a big deal.

Threaded message boards have never been a contender to email. The glorified threaded message board that is Google Wave will not replace email.

If I’m wrong here, just let me know, but be sure to give me a convincing reason or three. If you agree with me, I’d love to hear from you as well, just a leave a note in the comments.

That’s the question that plagues every social media marketing beginner, but the answer is a lot easier that you’d think.

When reaching out to people on social media channels you have every chance to learn a great deal about them ahead of time. These people spend a great deal of time and energy writing, podcasting, and making videos about the things they are interested in. Do a little research and you can find the keys to their hearts.

Look around on their blogs, listen to their podcasts, and read their tweets. When you introduce yourself you can come bearing information they are ready to receive. Bring them something that they love (information for the infophiles) and they will associate that love with you.

Social media marketing, digital PR, and the entire new media marketing world is about getting to know people and reaching out in a personal way. Work at making that connection. Show that the context of who they are matters to you, and that what you want to talk to them about matters to them. If you can manage that, then the good feelings you inspire will earn press that is real, hard won, and respected. Press earned in this way will resonate as honest (since it is) and will garner you more support in your brand, cause, or any other marketing venture.

The impersonal world has become personal. It’s time for you to become personal as well:

Go to where they are

They are on facebook, twitter, youtube, vimeo, blogger, wordpress, myspace, livejournal, personal blogs. . . Go to these places. Read, listen, watch, interact. Be as much a part of these communities as possible. Be real. Be you.

Listen to what they say

The people that you want to reach out to have put a lot of work into showing the world just what they are interested in. Make sure that before you reach out to them you do the research. Find out what they wat to know about. When you have something in that area to talk about, you’ll know who to bring it to. (helpful tip: blog directories are great for finding people http://blogcatalog.com)

Bring them your message

Once you’ve found the right people to bring your message to, bring your message to them. Make sure to bring that message to them on the mediums they use, email, blogs, twitter, youtube, etcetera. Go to them with your message, but be sure you’re bringing the message to the right people.

If you spend some time getting to know your audience, then starting a conversation with them won’t be hard at all. It’ll be like speaking to an old friend.

Abraham Harrison llc

Using Facebook essentially requires much less writing than blogging and more than tweeting.  However, the most significant distinction of Facebook is its “tagging” feature, which puts personal photographs high on the totem pole in user appeal.

With this in mind as I read through the information I actually noticed a few parallels with what I have blogged about in the past regarding social media networks and gender.  I realized that even though the general study shows that males recently increased their numbers more than females, females still use Facebook more across all age groups.

The study from Inside Facebook cited that females and males 18-25 increased in number by nearly 1 million last month.  The article goes on to say that the “increases in males 35-44 were lower [than females 35-44].”  Not only was the increase of males ages 35-44 on Facebook smaller than that of females, but the overall number of males in this age range is over 2 million less than females.  Moreover, the chart of overall current Facebook users shows that females beat out males on Facebook in every age category from 13-65—representing 57% of the Facebook audience.

In my last article, “Millennial Moms: The Most Connected & Technology Dependent Population,” I noted that gender may have a huge role in social media use.  These Millennials, designated as 13 to 32-year-olds (born between 1977 and 1996), were the first to grow up using mainstream technology.  Mothers in this age range have shown significant interest in using social media over males of the same age.

Now that I have thrown out the numbers I can tell you why I believe they exist. It’s possibly due to the female gender, stereotypical or not, that tends to crave a sense of belonging and friendship.  Perhaps I am looking too deep into Facebook, a place where you can send virtual Jager Bombs, sacrifice a friend for a Whopper, poke people and of course add the essential “Don’t F**k w/ Chuck” application dedicated to Chuck Norris jokes.  However, women in their 30s are usually living on their own or married with children and may not have the social life or friend circle they once had.  This need is easily fulfilled through something like Facebook that allows them to stay connected while maintaining their current lives.

I do like to pull in my own experience when analyzing social media–as a college student I’ve convinced myself I have the right credentials.  I briefly asked several acquaintances around age 20 both male and female about their Facebook use.  I found that most of their moms were on Facebook and none of their dads.  I also found that the girls visit their Facebook pages much more frequently than the boys and also that the girls had  over 500 (yes, 500) more pictures  displayed on average than the boys do. Both the chicks and dudes said they use Facebook to stay in touch with friends who live both far away and close, but the dudes expressed less importance in this feature.

My makeshift study is far from scientific, but it certainly refuels my own theory that females want a sense of community more than males—which is why they seems to enjoy Facebook more than males.  Getting “tagged” in a picture or sharing pictures with others allows them to stay in touch.   And, for a lack of better explanation, pictures show other Facebookers that they have friends, or are a part of a community.

The same attitude carries over from college-age women to those 30-50.  Mommy bloggers are more prominent than ever. They love to share pictures, stories, and advice with other women on a daily basis, which Facebook allows for.

Although the statistics of overall growth rates show that males have had bigger increases in users across the board except for 35-44, I still believe female Facebook users will continue to surpass males.  I’ll soon analyze the marketing aspect of these statistics that centers around the age demographic.

Thomson Reuters and Gawker Media among the first to sign up for the new commercial version of Motionbox’s acclaimed video service

New York, NY – November 4, 2009 — Motionbox, the leading personal video sharing service, today announced Motionbox PRO. Intended for businesses and other organizations seeking to share video with selected users, Motionbox PRO fills a previously unmet need in the video sharing market. Professional users were flocking to Motionbox because of its virtually unlimited storage and full screen HD playback, but needed the ability to upload and share commercial content in an unbranded, high quality player. Motionbox PRO answers that demand.

Motionbox PRO provides a comprehensive video hosting solution that includes archival storage, web-based editing, streaming and embedding, all in superior quality, up to 1080p HD. Commercial customers will receive best-in-the-industry support for HD formats and pricing that is significantly lower than that of competitors in the commercial video sharing market.

“Reuters is committed to exploring innovative new ways of disseminating news and information, and applauds Motionbox for their easy to use upload tools and web-based editing.

The introduction of Motionbox PRO comes as a response to a wide range of Motionbox customers, including real estate agents, film production companies, and small businesses in search of an affordable professional video hosting solution.

Motionbox PRO also comes in a version for larger Enterprises, and among the pre-launch customers to move to Motionbox’s new PRO version are Thomson Reuters and Gawker Media.
“Reuters is committed to exploring innovative new ways of disseminating news and information, and applauds Motionbox for their easy to use upload tools and web-based editing. Using Motionbox, Reuters’ journalists are able to get the most current video content distributed to Reuters’ readers and clients,” said Chris Cramer, Global Editor, Multimedia, Reuters.

Tom Plunkett, CTO of Gawker Media said, “Gawker manages a number of blogs that all use video content avidly. We chose Motionbox because of the customizability of the platform and because Motionbox HD video quality is the best out there.”

Coming on the heels of Motionbox’s partnership with Shutterfly and its acquisition of Viddyou, the release of Motionbox PRO caps a year of strong growth for the New York-based company, which enables millions of users to share their video memories privately and securely with friends and family.

To learn more about Motionbox PRO, log on to: http://www.motionbox.com/content/pro

About Motionbox
Motionbox enables individuals and families to easily upload, edit, store, and share their personal video memories, including those that have been captured in High Definition. In addition to free membership options on Motionbox.com and via partners such as Shutterfly, Bebo, and AOL Video, Motionbox provides a subscription-based Premium service featuring HD playback and sharing, unlimited archival storage, and download capabilities. Motionbox also offers hard-good products that allow consumers to enjoy personal videos beyond devices and computers. Visit http://www.motionbox.com/ for more information.

PRESS CONTACT:
Dan Krueger
Abraham & Harrison Public Relations
dkrueger (at) abrahamharrison (dot) com

&

Stephanie Mello
Motionbox, Public Relations Manager
stephanie.mello (at) motionbox (dot) com