I enjoy the research published by the Pew Internet and American Life Project because it is not motivated by any particular agenda. So it came as a surprise to me to learn that they are reporting that 19% of those recently surveyed use Twitter or “some other form of status update service (not quite sure what they mean by this). This is up from 11% only 1 year ago. I know that Twitter is fast-growing but since Pew generally reports more conservative numbers than other surveys this is impressive.  Additionall, the same survey is showing that the median age for Facebook users is rising:  Up to 33 from 26 only 1 year ago–big jump!
Here’s a link to the full survey but I’ll also list some of the key findings below:

• Tweeters tend to be under 49 and the audience skews slightly female
• Twitter users are still less than half the number of other social network users but they are the fastest growing group
• Mobile users and people with multiple devices are more likely to Tweet

Here’s a chart showing the disparity in the age ranges of Twitter users:

As the demographics of our social media audiences continues to evolve it suggests that we should expect to use different communication strategies across each platform according to what suits not only the functionality of the platform but the different audiences adn modes of use (i.e. mobile versus computer).  How are you adapting?

I saw this interesting case study from MarketingProfs that details how a social media monitoring software company called Techrigy is using Twitter as the primary lead generation tool.  The presentaion includes their impressive case study plus basic tips in how to monitor conversations on Twitter to find users with whom to engage.  The only shortcoming of it is that they do not place much emhasis on the content of their Tweets.  I find that it can be challenging for a business to walk the line between being informational and promotional so I would be curious how they have solved for that. See below for full presentation:

I am generally in favor of Facebook business pages as long as the business has a reasonably interesting content strategy, the willingness to committ sustained time and energy to it, and the willingness to cross-promote it in througout their marketing efforts.  However, there is one thing thaty bugs me about Facebook relative to some of the other popular social sites such as Twitter and YouTube.  On Facebook there is no way to search for and engage potential new fans without using Facebook advertising to get to them.  I know Facebook does not want to commit the same sins as MySpace and create a platform for spammers but I have to believe that there can be a way to implement fan site invitations that would not be intrusive.

For instance, on Twitter and YouTube there are some interesting ways that you can build out your networks.  On Twitter you can:

• search for posts containing certain criteria and follow, @reply,  or message the Tweeter
• retweet relevant posts from others and they may follow you in return
• search the followers of those who you already follow or who follow you

On YouTube you can:

• search for videos contains certain criteria and message the poster or post a video reply in the comments
• check to see where related videos are being embedded and introduce your content to them
• subscribe to relevant videos and submit friend requests to develop a relationship with the poster

Facebook unfortunately does not allow the business page owner to engage in outreach like this.  Granted you can create useful content for the Facebook community like an app or game, you can advertise, and you can create content that takes advantage of the viral networking of facebook to find new audiences.  This is why we like business pages.  But, I still think the platform could be improved by giving the business user some social networking outreach tools.  In fact, I can imagine some businesses or organizations who should focus first on the other sites I mentioned before investing time and energy in Facebook.  If your goal is to build a network adn your brand does not have much magnetism on its own, Facebook may be much slower going for you than Twitter or YouTube.  I look forward to hearing other people’s thoughts on this.

I love this article by Mark Collier that describes the groundswell caused by a simple Tweet by an independant musician with a loyal following.  The is such a great example of simple principles of social media communications.

• It’s not about “me” but about “we”
• Embrace participation
• Be willing to be spontaneous

The short version of the story is that the artist, Amanda Palmer, posted a tweet on a Friday asking her followers who were home alone on the computer on a Friday night to sound off.  The groundswell that erupted resulted in the spontaneous formation of  “LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS  (#LOFNOTC) as a mini-movement.  Within hours they had developed a logo and were selling t-shirts online.  They sold $11,000 worth of them.

The rest of us can take lessons from Amanda.  She is engaged, interactive, spontaneous, and responsive.  And now she has some extra funds.  Way to go.

Sometimes a picture tells the whole story and I just need to get out of the way.

I hear more questions about how to use Twitter than any other social media marketing platform. Most of the time these come from people who are fairly highly skeptical that it could be of any use at all to them. Fair enough. Here are five great uses of Twitter (that are also likely to be profitable ones) borrowed from this great article at Socialnomics.com.

1. Customer Service: If you have a hard time building out a comprehensive FAQ section for your own website you may be surprised at how effective it can be to crowdsource this responsibility to your Twitter audience.
2. Recruiting Tool for Job Seekers/Recruiters: The author of Socialnomics suggested that employers pay a small fee to tweet their jobs. This is interesting but even without such a service HR departments and recruiters should be tweeting their openings.
3. Analytics and Competitive Insight Even without a formal analytics package you can use Twitter’s advanced search function to gain valuable insights into your company and your competitors.
4. Local Coupon Pushes: We have heard consistent reports of coupon and promotional offer redemption rates being higher through Twitter than through any other media. Even though your audience may be smaller at first, they will be engaged.
5. Build Your Own Broadcast Network: By following people whose interests align with your brand you can develop a network of followers relatively quickly. The interconnectedness of Twitter feeds means that your network can become a powerful broadcast tool if you take it upon yourself to serve content that keeps the network alive and energized.

This is just five ideas that leap to mind based on the article reference above. Let me know of other ideas that are working for you.

A recent study by Pear Analytics sought to determine the content of what is being posted to Twitter. They took 2,000 tweets in English from the public timeline over a time span of two weeks, with 200 tweets captured each half-hour from 11am – 5pm CST daily. They then categorized tweets into six different types: news, spam, self-promotion, pointless babble, conversation, and pass-along value.  Pointless babble won with 40.55% of the sample.

The stat itself is not that surprising but it certainly re-emphasizes the importance of emphasizing quality over quantity when it comes to those of us who use Twitter for business. Of the categories used in the study, only news, conversation and pass-along value really have a place in business tweets. One could argue that self-promotion belongs in the mix as well but that needs to be used sparingly in your Twitter content mix if you expect to retain the interest of your following.

Here is link to the PDF of the full study. It contains several interesting stats about how Twitter is being used. Very useful.

A recent Nielsen Company study has confirmed that the percentage of Twitter users 25 and younger is significanty lower than the percentage of the same group on the web as a whole. This indicates that Twitter’s recent growth is fueled completely by adult users which runs counter to most people’s intuitive sense that young people are mavens with all things social media.

64% of the current Twitter audience is in the 25-64 year old age bracket which suggests the growing exploration of Twitter amongst those seeking business applications for it. See the chart below:

What are some of your theories about the appeal or lack of appeal of Twitter to different age groups?

On their blog last week Twitter announced that they are correcting follower and following counts with the end result being that “follower counts will drop for some people. In particular, those with large followings may see significant changes as we correct for spam accounts and data inconsistencies.”  It is interesting to see that they are taking lessons from the fate of MySpace and fighting misuse of their system before it becomes too rampant.  What does this mean to you?

• Your follower count may drop as the Twitter tracks down spam followers who may have followed you.
• You should get fewer random follow requests (particularly from the ubiquitous “hotties” looking to hook up.)
• You should make sure that your own follow requests are clearly relevant to the content of your account.  Don’t rely on simple factors like geography or age to determine who you will submit a request to.
• Continue to create content that will be useful and of interest to your followers.

Now if we can only get Twitter to stop the Twarfers who use any of the vast number of recent third-party Twitter software products to create such high volumes of Tweet activity that they manage to publish a tweet a minute.  Ugh.  Even I’m not interesting once a minute and we all now how fascinating I am

Google is now spidering Tweets and pulling them into search engine result pages (SERPs).  This means that if you Tweet for a specifc business reason and are concerned about your online visibility you will want to take some steps to make sure that your Tweets are optimized for organic search.  Here some tips to help you get Twoogled  (I’m going to keep making up new Twitter words):

• Your account name should be in-line with how you intend to be found.  “BestWidgets” would be better than “okeydokey134″ if you are seeking the elusive widget shopper online.
• Consider the title of each tweet.  Use keywords that align with your objectives.
• Be consistent in your use keywords in tweets.  Multiple instances of the same terms will improve your visibility.
• Choose the first 40 or so characters wisely.  When you Tweet appears in Google, the title will include about the first 42 characters of your Tweet.  This is similar to the care with which you would write page titles for website SEO.
• Be interesting.  Providing links to useful content that gets you retweeted will give your tweets a boost in search visibility.
• Write your bio with care.  Your Twitter bio should also contain the terms that matter to your search visibility.

In the future Google may split the real-time content like Tweets from the rest of the SERP.  For now, your Tweets are out there being spidered so it pays to be conscious of how they can help you be found.