With all the press, and for lack of a better word, buzz surrounding Google Buzz, it’s no surprise that many users have abandoned Google’s other communication platform, Google Wave. While we at Real Voice Media still admonish our clients on the use of Google Buzz, we have been and continue to be firm believers, supporters, and users of Google Wave. While Google Buzz may be another new and nifty Social Media tool for individual users, it does not compare to the versatility and reliability of Google Wave for communication in businesses.
If you feel the need to join yet another Social Media site that offers very few added benefits from other sites, and whose privacy agreements are still in question, then by all means join Google Buzz. However if you are a business looking for a simple, cost effective solution to many communication issues that arise through the course of daily operations, then here are a few reasons to join the Google Wave:
• The number one reason is the ease of collaboration. Anyone on Google Wave can collaborate with anyone else on Google Wave, in real time.
or Conferences and Expos. A company can send one representative, using Google Wave as a reporting tool. A company may also send a small team, using Google Wave to cover the event more proficiently. Also employees not at the event can still gain insight and experience through correspondence on Google Wave.
• Google Wave is an excellent tool for group decision-making and problem solving. The real-time document sharing allows everyone involved in the Wave to view and comment on documents immediately. • Google Wave’s collaboration allows for ease in project management as well. In a single Wave, a project can be laid out, discussed, changed, and progress charted in one single space for everyone involved to view at their convenience. • Another vital roll that Google Wave plays is in brainstorming. The ease of collaboration allows business ideas to be exchanged, discussed, and argued in space for everyone to view and comment at their leisure. • Google Wave is a huge cost saver. Google Wave allows for free virtual meetings with any other Google Wave user. Companies no longer need to fly employees or clients to and from meeting destinations; everything can be shared, discussed, and finalized in one simple Google Wave.
Overall Google Wave allows for real-time conversations and document sharing. It is a revolutionary tool for anyone, especially businesses, interested in real-time conferencing and document sharing. Google Buzz is a neat, new toy; Google Wave is a revolutionary business tool.
(Lauby, Sharlyn. “5 Ways to Use Google Wave for Business”. Mashable.com. 8 March 2010.)
Just as in the real world, gender has permeated the Internet and Social Media landscape. The gender gap or divide is no secret in the real world; marketers and companies devote campaigns and products specifically targeted at one gender group. Now the Internet is finally catching up with the practices of the real world. The future of the web may be a lot more women friendly than ever anticipated.
As with most things in life, men and women differ greatly on their thinking, rational, and use of the Internet and Social Media. Men mostly use Social Media to accomplish things and gain status; women tend to use Social Media for making genuine relationships, and discussing real life issues and experiences.
Women are, by nature, intrinsically and inherently more social beings than men. Therefore it is no surprise that they use Social Media for real conversations and finding other like-minded women, rather than marketing to other Social Media members.
- The social news sites Digg, Reddit and Slashdot have significantly more male users than female. The standout here is Slashdot. 82% of their users are male.
- Men tend to use Twitter more for marketing, where as women tend to use Twitter for real conversations and chatting.
- The most female-dominated site is Bebo (66% female users), closely followed by MySpace and Classmates.com (64%).
- The average ratio of 19 Social Media sites was 47% male, 53% female.
- With men, social cooperation is simple favor swapping. With women social cooperation must be earned through relationships
- Women tend to have the purchasing power within households, and make most of the shopping decisions therefore that would make them an obvious consumer target
- Women are more apt to make purchases or visit a location based on a recommendation rather than an advertisement; so Social Media relationships can be vital interactions
- Women between the ages of 35 and 50 are the fastest-growing segment on Social Media
While women’s presence in Social Media may not be overtly noticeable at the moment, their impact is well known by those involved. So don’t expect Facebook to be pink anytime soon, but many companies and sites have begun catering more and more to women, and what they want out of Social Media. In the future there most likely will be sites dedicated specifically to women. Overall women may end up shaping the social landscape of the Internet, much like they are still shaping the society of the real world.
Google is poised to alter the broadband landscape, as we know it, with the introduction of Google Gigabit. Google announced on February tenth, that it would be testing gigabit broadband in limited markets (about 50,000-500,000 people), allowing users connection speeds more than 100 times faster than their usual provider. Google Gigabit promises the ability to reach connection speeds of up to 1 Gbps (Gigabit per second); the current fastest ISPs can only reach speeds of up to 200 Mbps (Megabits per second).
Google’s Gigabit could eventually threaten current ISPs (Internet Service Providers), such as AT&T and Comcast. While Google Gigabit is going to be an experimental project, if it proves feasible and cost effective, while still providing the connection speed it promises, it will force other ISP’s to devote more time and money to catch up to the 1 Gbps connection speed.
While Google may eventually dominate the Broadband landscape, it is much more likely the current titans of ISPs will adapt to Google’s innovation. Google has a much simpler ulterior motive to establishing its own broadband network. Google makes its revenue through ad sales; the new Gigabit broadband would allow Google to cut out the middlemen, allowing them to share traffic directly with ISPs, avoiding a multitude of fees in the process.
If Google Gigabit lives up to its hype, the possibilities are limitless: next generation applications, 3-D real-time video conferencing, University lectures available in real-time, and any other number of possibilities only limited by human imagination and innovation.
GOOGLE BUZZ
Google’s other latest announcement has not received the positive Buzz, it was expecting (pun fully intended). Google Buzz is Google’s foyer into Social Media, and has been negatively received by many in the Internet community.
Google Buzz is the new Social Media feed addition to Gmail. It allows users to share links, photos, videos, and status updates through their Gmail inbox or Smartphone. The initial version released on February eleventh received major backlash from the Internet community for its total lack of privacy; the original Google Buzz automatically exposed your email contacts to anyone on the web looking at your Google Buzz profile. Also, although Google Buzz conveniently blends into Gmail, it may become a terror for your Gmail inbox; every Google Buzz alert or new comment is sent to your inbox, and turning off or modifying the push feature is convoluted and extremely difficult to locate.
The backlash against Google Buzz was so extreme that only a day after its release, Google made some extreme changes to Google Buzz’s settings, supposedly allowing the user more privacy. Now users will be able to make their Google Buzz updates “public” or “private”. Also, Google now asks explicitly if you want to share your Buzz followers with the world when setting up an account. However many on the Internet are still skeptical of Google’s thirst for data, and many cannot help but see Google Buzz as a way of tricking users into generating public content.
Like many Social Media applications, Google Buzz is also available as a Smartphone application. The Google Buzz app uses Google Mobile Maps to post and show location-based updates on Google Buzz.
Like anything in Social Media, Google Buzz’s sustainability will be determined by the users, or lack there of. If the current response to the user unrest is any indication of Google’s commitment to Buzz, perhaps it will eventually be a beneficial Social Media tool. However, for the time being, we at Real Voice Media remain skeptical and hesitant to install, subscribe to, or recommend Google Buzz.
Please join the Real Voice Media team on Thursday February 18th from 9-10 am to answer all of your social media questions. Enter your email address and information in the widget below and you will receive an email confirming your attendance, with instructions for the free webinar event.
The old adage that, “everyone is a critic,” is a reality at Yelp.com. Yelp has a cult-like following and an enormous amount of user content, rivaled only by the ubiquitous Wikipedia. With a following of over 26 million readers monthly, and an ever-growing archive of about eight million reviews covering businesses over most of the United States and Europe, Yelp may be the most popular reviews site on the Internet.
Yelp, like most sites, makes money by selling ad space to businesses. After a few reviews of a business, Yelp will contact the business and ask them to “claim” their Yelp page. By “claiming” their Yelp page, a business is then able to respond to reviews and receive traffic reports from Yelp. Once businesses “claim” their page, they are offered the opportunity of a, “$300-per-month paid sponsorship, which buys the company advertisements elsewhere on the Yelp site.”
Yelp allows businesses to respond directly to all of the followers on their Yelp page. It also allows businesses the personal, individual, and one-on-one touch for which they strive. Yelp allows businesses to contact individual Yelp users; if a customer has an issue, if there is a promotion, if a regular customer deserves a discount, or any other number of one-on-one business dealings.
Many businesses and business owners are reluctant to use Social Media sites, especially Yelp, for fear of a loss of control over their brand. However there is, and never will be any better advertising than word-of-mouth; Yelp is essentially an enormous forum of word-of-mouth advertisers. Many businesses fear a bad or false review. However Social Media is so prevalent and pervasive that complete control of a brand is impossible. Instead of overreacting, and belittling or insulting a reviewer’s opinion, businesses should personally contact the reviewer and discuss the issue they are having with your business or maybe even offer another try of the business through a discounted product or item. Dealing with and handling customers through social media and over the Internet should be done as though it were a face-to-face interaction. History has shown that most poor Yelp reviews improve after personal contact by the businesses.
Yelp gives every consumer the opportunity to give their verbose opinion on any business they visit or frequent. But Yelp is also a great opportunity for business owners to view the demographic visiting and using their business, communicate personally and individually with their Yelp reviewers, read reviews and fix issues within their business, and grow their overall business and brand.
Act as if it were a face-to-face interaction. And remember just because you can respond does not mean you have to.
Graciousness goes a long way:
Make sure to apologize for what the customer did not like. Perhaps offer a discount or compromise that would encourage a return to your business, and might eventually lead to a more positive review
Contact Administrator:
As a last case scenario, for malicious reviews or hateful attacks, contact the website or its administrator directly. But still don’t retaliate against a poor or even hateful review. As with anything else be the better person and the better business.
(Source: Chafkin, Max. “Yelp! It can make or break you.” Inc. Magazine. February 2010: 48-55)
With the proliferation of Smartphones, like the iPhone and Blackberry, as the must-have mobile devices, Social Media sites are embracing the features these Smartphones allow them to utilize. From simple GPS and Internet navigation to the complexity of augmented reality, the tools and horizons available to Social Media sites are seemingly endless and always broadening.
Almost all relevant social media sites have some form of mobile application available. The usual suspects are ever present, like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. However, sites such as Foursquare (which allows you to “check-in” at various locations with your mobile device), Causeworld (which is like Foursquare but for charities), and Alt NewWorld are almost exclusively dependent on mobile devices. Even sites, like Hootsuite and Twitterific, which aid in posting to popular Social Media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, have all gone mobile as well; it now allows previous and new clients to view and update multiple Social Media accounts on the go from their Smartphone mobile devices.
As mobile dependent Social Media sites grow in size and number, there is, and will be a strong reason for businesses to become more involved in the evolving world of Social Media. Some reasons to join or get more involved in Social Media include but are not limited to:
Your current and potential customers ARE using Social Media, or soon will be
Brand monitoring: listen, learn, and react to your demographic and competition
Websites that are not social and mobile ready are a thing of the past
Add value to your business or venue by increasing the client experience like never before
Some Social Media stats that might sway you:
45% visit social networks to find out about product sales or discounts.
47% will go to social networks to download a free gift or coupons.
73% of active online users read a blog, 120,000 new blogs are launched daily.
22% would read or write a product review online or in a blog, 1.5 million posts per day, 45% have started their own blogs.
39% subscribe to an RSS feed.
57% joined social networks- Facebook for example has over a billion users increasing by the minute, Twitter exploded to a 1382% growth rate within 2009.
10% of all Internet traffic is generated by Youtube, which ranks with Wikipedia among top brands.
5 of the top 10 websites ever created are social.
The Internet users’ ages of 70+ jumped as follows: 70-74 Years: 26% (‘05)- 45% (‘08), 75+ Years: 17% (‘05)- 28% (‘08).
(Sources are Compete, Alexa, MSNBC, Nielsen &Technorati)
Are you tired of having to visit each of the seemingly endless social media sites in order to make the same post on multiple forums? Of Course you are!
Well if you are looking for ease and convenience when posting to social media sites, Seesmic may be able to help you.
Seesmic.com has recently purchased Ping.fm, in order to further their vision of social media. With the addition of Ping.fm, anyone is able to update fifty social media sites using Seesmic+Ping.fm from chat, email, SMS, Blackberry, Android, Windows, OSX, and surely more platforms to come. Some Social Media Sites include the usual suspects like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Myspace; however Seesmic+Ping.fm also allows posts to sites such as WordPress, TypePad, and Blogger.
With the merger of Seesmic and Ping.fm, consumers will now be able to use the simple posting abilities of Ping.fm to post to up to fifty social media sites, while combining the already popular applications of Seesmic. Previous users of both sites need not worry, the three co-founders of Ping.fm will also be joining the Seesmic team in order to make the transition seamless, and continue improving the site, while integrating the applications of Seesmic. With Seesmic+Ping.fm users will now be able to update fifty social media sites using previous Seesmic phone applications, as well as Ping.fm’s SMS, email, and chat utilities.
The benefits for social media users on multiple platforms are obvious. Seesmic+Ping.fm provides automated updating to each of the user’s social media accounts with one click, on one site. The automated updates will save the users time, allow for endless exposure, and improve the users’ ability to network and build relationships. With the purchase of Ping.fm, Seesmic’s goal to become your everyday application for staying in touch over the perpetually evolving world of social media may soon become a reality. However the question remains; will there be any quality, with all the quantity?
The explosion of social media in 2009 is undeniable. Social media has perforated the Internet, and found a mainstay in everyday life. The once, relatively small market of social media sites has expanded and encompassed the globe. According to Neilson Online, Twitter alone grew 1,832% in 2009. Social media is connecting people and businesses all over the world, intertwining human consciousness as never before. So what can be expected from the ever-expanding world of social media in 2010?
Social Media gets Exclusive:
With tons of niche networks springing up everyday, for all sorts of interests, many people may find they don’t necessarily “belong” in certain social networks. Perhaps the clicks of the real world’s social scene will find their way into social media.
Social Business Goes Big:
Sites, such as Foursquare (a growing location based social media site), use engaging and fun tactics to keep their social members involved and participating. As businesses look to increase traffic and activity on their social networking sites, they may use incentives, like the “mayorship” of foursquare to drive customers to their sites and products.
Social Media Changes the Way We Share:
Major news organizations like CNNand The New York Times have joined the social media movement, and sometimes use fellow social media members to report their opinion on breaking news over social media networks; now anyone can be a reporter.
The way that corporations and businesses communicate and share may change in 2010 thanks to social media. The new Google Wave allows members all over the world to communicate and share information and data in real time all on one private forum.
An Even Bigger Voice for the People:
Sites like Digg.com have put the control of the news in the hands of their social media peers. Now individuals are deciding what is newsworthy, sorting through the pantheon of stories on the Internet to find what they believe is truly newsworthy. As more individuals in 2010 begin relying on such sites for their daily news, conventional news media will have to adapt, incorporate, or move aside.
The landscape of social media is constantly changing, and if 2009 is any indication, 2010 should be an exciting and innovative year for social media.
With the unemployment rate over 10 percent in some areas, many people are looking for ways to expand their network and are reacquainting themselves with the business networking site, LinkedIn. While there is no doubt that LinkedIn is a valuable resource for finding employment, it is also a great way to find new business. Whether you are looking for a job, or looking for business, success with LinkedIn takes planning and attention. Here are five tips to get you started:
1. Fill out your profile.
It is important to fill out your profile completely and thoughtfully. The first thing you want to think about is what a potential client or employer would be looking for and use those key words. Make sure you fill out your profile completely and definitely have a photo. The more you can tell others about your skills and experiences the better. LinkedIn provides a score to let you know how you are doing. There is no excuse not to get 100.
2. Join groups.
Joining groups gives you the opportunity to be visible to more people. LinkedIn has many different types of groups to join. One obvious choice is to join a group in your specialty, but also consider joining groups that are complimentary to your industry. Also consider what groups your clients would join.
3. Answer questions.
LinkedIn has a feature where you can help other people by answering questions. This is another way to be visible to more people. The category of questions you would like to answer is up to you. You can share from your own experiences or you might be able to connect them with other resources.
4. Check in often.
Ideally you should visit your LinkedIn profile at least once daily. That way you can let people know what you are up to and at the same time find out what is happening with others. The goal is to be visible, present, and above all, helpful.
5. Ask for Recommendations.
Recommendations is a final section to pay special attention to.. When you do business with someone that you know is delighted with working with you, ask for a recommendation. Be sure to ask soon after the work is completed while they have a more vivid memory of what they like so much about you.
Utilizing LinkedIn is a powerful way to expand your network and make it easier to connect with potential clients and business opportunities. To learn more about LinkedIn and marketing your business using social media:
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the information on your Twitter stream, you’re not alone. In response, Twitter now has a new feature—Twitter Lists—that can help you organize the people you are following (or those who are following you) into different categories.
Twitter Lists are really easy to create. First you decide on a name for the category, something short that describes what the people on the list have in common. For example, you might create a list called “thought leaders,” or “local resources,” or “media outlets,” etc. Once you’ve decided on a name, the next step is to populate the group. This is also easy. All that is required is clicking the box next to each follower’s name and selecting which list you would like to include them on.
The nice thing about lists is that once they are set up, they serve as a type of feed that condenses all of the group’s tweets into one location. Now, when you want to check in on that particular subject or group, you can scan through the list. It’s a great way to get a quick read of what is happening and to see what is important to that group. Another important feature is you are not limited to following only your lists, you can choose to follow other people’s lists as well.
How Are You Seen by Others?
One of the most valuable aspects of lists is the ability to check on the other side of the equation and see how people are categorizing you. You can see this by clicking on the “Lists” option right next to your total number of followers. A deeper look will show you what lists you have been placed on and what the title of the group is. It can be a real eye-opener to see how people classify you versus how you see yourself. It’s sort of like seeing what table you end up at the wedding reception. Friend table? Family? Misfits? The categories you are placed in can provide valuable insight to whether you are coming across the way you had hoped.
Lists are a useful new feature on Twitter. If you haven’t explored them yet, begin today! They are a great way to categorize your followers, as well as see how people categorize you. For more tips on lists, or marketing your business with social media, sign up for our RSS feed, or follow our updates by becoming a fan on FaceBook.
