The Web Uncovered

A phenomenal achievement by Social Media experts Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas, The Conversation Prism (V2.0 recently released) is a visual representation of the various categories and associated websites that make up the Social Media landscape. By their own admission, the creators recognize that the constatant evolution of online conversations and communities makes this a snapshot at best. Far be it for any one of us, expert or not, to define social media in such specific terms. However, we should be so lucky that Solis and Thomas have made such an attempt! A clear and crisp image of of the Conversation Prism and it’s many details is difficult to come by online. However it should be noted that a full size 18″x24″ poster is available for purchase at www.theconversationprism.com. (Click to view V1.0 | V2.0)

Thanks to a recent blog post by Andy Beal, We can find the MarketingProfs survey of Twitter users.  What did they find?

Twitter users were asked to rate the reasons why they participate, on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree):

• “I find it exciting to learn new things from people”: Average score 4.65
• “I value getting information in a timely manner”: Average score 4.58
• “I like to be connected to lots of people”: Average score 3.91
• “I want to generate new business”: Average score 3.70
• “I find it gratifying to have people follow me”: Average score 3.64

The Takeaway:  Twitter users care more about being heard than listening.  if you are using Twitter as a marketing tool, then you must generate frequent, targetted content that will truly gain the interest of followers after you have enticed them to  follow you.

Web 2.o developments have significantly changed the way political campaigns are executed.  The Obama campaign championed some of these technologies with a team of over 90 people working on just their internet presence.  While virility is much easier to attain with a presidential candidate, it did plow a path for for more local political campaigns to follow in how social media can make a difference on election day.

First of all, not only did Obama have a Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, and every other social network page, he also created his whole own social network Mybarackobama.com, which had millions of registered users.  While this is a good start, it was only the beginning.  Obama kept a blog, a text message list, email list with 13 million names, and more.  What this signifies is not just a move of campaigning to the internet, but utilizing the less formal aspects of online marketing.  Getting a text message from Obama is much more humanizing than seeing him on CNN addressing a crowd.  

This feeds into consumer psychology.  If politics is a business, representation is the product.  People want to believe they have access to their politicians, and that their voice is truly heard.  Utilizing these technologies, Obama was able to address many more nuanced concerns of his constituacy.   Following in suite, many other politicians began using Twitter to Having new ways to both reach out to your audience and have them feel as if they are reaching you, this has greatly changed the way campaigns will be done.

This week we spoke with Rick Rovegno, a former Technical Analyst for PC Magazine. He has been successfully using LinkedIn to develop his online network. Rick shared with us some of the features of Linked In that have helped improve his odds of finding a job using social media. Also joining the conversation, Ryan Goodin of Diligent Brands, Inc., a full-service marketing agency and Mildred Tassone, a digital and social media consultant.