Journalistics.com published a comprehensive list of online applications and tools that will make your life and job easier. We only selected our favorites:
Aggregation & Collaboration
Alltop – one of the leading blog aggregators out there; check out the Journalism section as a good example
Digsby – get your IM, Email and Social Networks all in one place, that’s what Digsby is all about
Tinychat – create chatrooms on-the-fly; BackNoise is another good one for this
Gist – helps you learn more about the contacts you’ve made – all in one place
Instapaper – a fast, easy, and free tool to save Web pages for reading later
Utterli – another online chat tool you can use to start discussions via the Web or your mobile device
Skribit – let your readers suggest topics for you to blog about, and put an end to writer’s block
Monitoring & Analytics
ConvoTrack – a bookmarklet that enables you to see the entire conversation surrounding a post (see comments from Twitter, FriendFeed, Digg, Reddit, etc.)
TweetBeep – the “Google Alerts” for Twitter – monitor keywords in Twitter and receive email summaries for free
Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service.
Three groups of internet users are mainly responsible for driving the growth of this activity: social network website users, those who connect to the internet via mobile devices and younger internet users (those under age 44).
Internet users who already use social network sites such as MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn are also likely to use Twitter (35%), compared with just 6% of internet users who do not use such social network sites.
And, the more devices someone owns, the more likely they are to use Twitter or another service to update their status. Fully 39% of internet users with four or more internet-connected devices (such as a laptop, cell phone, game console or Kindle) use Twitter, compared with 28% of internet users with three devices, 19% of internet users with two devices and 10% of internet users with one device.
Who is on TWITTER
Demographic Group
% of US Adults Tweeting
All Online adults
19%
Sex
Men
17
Women
21
Race/Ethnicity
White (non Hispanic)
19
African American
26
Hispanic
18
Age
18-29
33
30-49
22
50-64
9
65+
4
Education
Less than high school
18
High school diploma
17
Some college
21
College graduate
21
Household Income
< $30,000
22
30k-49,999
21
50k-74,999
20
≥ $75,000
20
Internet Connection
Broadband
21
Dial-up
11
Wireless or Tethered
Wireless
25
Tethered
8
Number of Wireless Devices
One
10
Two
19
Three
28
Four or more
39
Social Network User
Yes
35
No
6
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey, (August-September), October 2009
As of September 2009, 54% of internet users have a wireless connection to the internet via a laptop, cell phone, game console or other mobile device. Of those, 25% use Twitter or another similar service, up from 14% of wireless users in December 2008. By comparison, 8% of internet users who rely exclusively on tethered access use Twitter or another service, up from 6% in December 2008.
Analysis also shows that wireless access is an independent factor in predicting whether someone uses Twitter or another status update service. It is not simply because this group is likely to be young or tech-savvy. Owning and using a wireless internet device makes an internet user significantly more likely to tweet.
Age is another strong, independent predictor for use of Twitter and other status-updating services. Internet users ages 18 to 44 report rapid uptake of Twitter over the last nine months, whereas internet users ages 45 and older report slower adoption rates. For example, 37% of internet users ages 18 to 24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19% in December 2008.
The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. The median age for a MySpace user is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40. Facebook, however, is graying a bit: the median age for this social network site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.
Median Twitter Age is 31
% of Internet Users
Twitter Age Group
Dec ‘08
Sep ‘09
18-24
19%
37%
25-34
20
31
35-44
10
19
45-54
5
10
55-64
4
10
65+
2
4
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey, (Nov-Dec ‘08, Aug-Sep ‘09), October 2009
The report points out that Harvard Business School researchers analyzed a random sample of 300,000 Twitter accounts and found that “the top 10% of prolific Twitter users accounted for over 90% of tweets.” In addition, says the report, Sysomos analyzed 11.5 million Twitter accounts and found that most people post just once per day (and one in five have never posted).
Matthew Liu of YouTube.com explains what steps you need to take so others can find your videos. Just simply posting it on YouTube and hoping that someone will find is not enough, learn how to optimize your videos.
Social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. Social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content; it supports the human need for social interaction with technology, transforming broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.
Here are some amazing stats about social media:
• 3 out of 4 Americans use social technology
• 2/3 of the global Internet population visit social networks
• Visiting social networking sites is the 4th most popular online activity –actually ahead of personal email
• Time spent on social networks is growing at 3x the overall Internet rate, accounting for 10% of all Internet time
• Social media is shifting the power away from the editors and the publishers. You are in control!
• Estimated 100,000,000 videos are viewed on Youtube per day
• 13,000,000 articles are available on Wikipedia
• 3,600,000,000 photos has been received on Flickr since June 2009, that’s 1 photo per every two citizens of this planet
• 1382% is the monthly growth rate of Twitter users from January to February 2009
• 5,000,000,000 minutes spent on Facebook each day
• Total amount of time spent on Facebook increased by 566% between December 2007-December 2008
• Facebook’s greatest growth in global audience numbers has come from people aged 35-49
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the 8th most populated in the world (Mark Zuckenberg)
• 93% of social media users believe that a company should have a presence in social media
• 85% of social media users believe that a company should interact with its customers in social media
Many organizations today stand in front of a dilemma how to use social media and which outlet(s) is the best for them. Social media is changing and progressing as fast as any other aspect of your business. For a small organization, selecting the right outlet means better results and also important time savings. However, choosing the right social media can be overwhelming.
Daily, we read about other organizations using Twitter, Facebook, Digg, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogger and the list goes on….We also read about their successes using these outlets. Being a public relations professional at Stylee PR and Marketing, I am almost forced to use them all, but you as an individual or a small organization can pick. How do you select the latest and most effective from all new media that will assist you in marketing and growing your business?
First, you need to recognize your needs, what content you want to share, and find your target audience. Then you find the right outlet and devote a regular portion of your day to it daily. How do you find the right outlet(s) for your business or product? The first step is to research. Take a look at all of them; see what your competition is using. See if their tools are benefiting them. Do people know about them? Are they growing? Read blogs that mention similar products or services that you are trying to promote. Get educated about what’s out there.
Think about your content. Do you have a lot of photos to share? You may want to set up a Flickr account. Do you have a lot of video? You may want to create both YouTube and Vimeo (better quality video) accounts. Do you want to share your updates quickly with a large group of people, get on Twitter. Use a TweetDeck to manage your updates. Do you want to share your video, photos and updates with a group of friends or customers, set up a Facebook account. Facebook is also great for sharing events and fundraising as you can invite a large number of people to your events (no printing cost). Are you starting a band, get on MySpace. If you are writing articles, you need a blog. If there are articles written about you, Digg them. Need to find other professionals in your field, set up a LinkedIn account.
The possibilities are pretty much endless, but you have to keep in mind that just creating an account is not enough, you have to diligently check it and update it. Your goal is to create a conversation, to set a trend. You can only achieve this if your message is relevant to your followers. You also need to devote time to any social media outlet that you select. Many businesses now use PR professionals to help them get set up and started. My advice to you is to check out all social media outlets, play with them, and give them a try. Remember that whatever you do, social media is supposed to be fun.
One of the first questions that I get when talking to my potential Stylee PR clients is: “How do I start a blog?” According to a recent study from Hubspot, who canvassed 167 small to medium sized business owners and executives, one of the most effective marketing practices includes a successful blog.
Starting a blog is very simple and it is also free, you do not need to buy a domain, just simply pick your blog name on one of the popular blog hosting sites like blogger or wordpress. Here are five tips to get you started on the road to creating a successful blog.
1. Create great content – this is the most important thing you can do. Great content is what attracts users, and keeps them coming back. A blog with great content is also more likely to be discovered in search engines.
2. Pick a niche – picking a certain topic to blog on will ultimately be better for your blog in the end. It brings targeted readers are more likely to spend more time on your site and more likely to come back. If you advertise on your blog, targeting specific users will benefit you.
3. Don’t advertise too much - while advertising can be profitable for you, too much advertising can drive many readers away from your blog. Advertise, but don’t overdo it.
4. Create a schedule – posting on a schedule is good for two reasons. First, your readers know that you will be posting new content regularly. Secondly, it helps you stay committed and motivated in what you are doing.
5. Experiment - and have fun with it. It is your blog, it does not belong to someone else. You are free to do whatever you want with it. Don’t be afraid to try new things. There is no specific approach to blogging. What works for someone else may not work for you.
A Spoleto Scene cocktail party preceding the Dogugaeshi performance was held at the Ashley Marina on June 1. The party had it all – boats, sunset, amazing food creations by Iverson Catering, beautiful setting, and of course beautiful people!!
Digg has done a lot of talking about integrating Facebook Connect, but not much in the way of implementing it. A source close to the company announced today that Digg will implement the service some time today. Facebook gets another big name partner on its increasingly popular Facebook Connect platform.
Although we are living in tough economic times and the job market is shrinking, present day job seekers have many great options and online tools that were not available during the last recession. To find a career, one should still utilize traditional channels such as distributing resumes, networking, professional memberships, yet there are no limitations as to how creative and innovative one can get today. Many companies and employers look for job candidates online or at least they check their credentials on the web. It is absolutely important that job seekers create their profiles on Linked-in, Facebook, VisualCV, Craigslist, Plaxo, Ecademy, even create a video resume and post it on Youtube or Flickr. Also, check out Recruiter Earth with more than 9000 members, Jober Talk has over 1,000 who are actively talking about job openings and USAJobs for thousands of US Government jobs. There is absolutely no reason why you should not have a blog or a simple website as well. Another way how to get your foot in the door is volunteering or internships.
Sarah Evans who is the director of communications at Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois, believes that your job could be just a tweet away and recommends using Twitter as a great option for job seekers:
Get the most out of your page
1. Make your Twitter presence “employer-friendly”
Put your job pitch in your Twitter bio (which is 160 characters)
Use a professional looking avatar
Tweet about your job search
2. Utilize your Twitter background. There’s lots of space you can use to promote yourself.
4. Establish yourself as an expert in your field on Twitter. It’s important to note that you should not misrepresent yourself. If you’re not a medical doctor, don’t play one on Twitter. As those on Twitter become interested in your content, when employers are looking at you, you’ll have more than just your resume to back up your knowledge and experience.
“It’s about who you know”
How do you get to know the right people? It’s not always about who you’re looking for, some people on Twitter are actually looking for YOU. There are many job recruiters who use Twitter to look for potential candidates.
Before contacting a recruiter via Twitter, check out:
Their bio
Follower/Following ratio (Have they been around a while? Do they follow people back?)
Click the link to their website
Ask others in your network whether or not the recruiter is a credible source
Here are a few recruiters representing different professions and industries on Twitter:
Christa Foley a.k.a. @electra – Christa is the recruiting manager and recruiter at Zappos.com. Christa gives followers an inside look into her career at Zappos. She tweets out examples of negative recruiting interactions with potential clients, outreach she does with high school and college students, and ultimately looks for potential Zappos candidates.
Craig Fisher a.k.a. @Fishdogs – Craig is an IT and executive recruiter who co-founded A-List Solutions staffing firm. On Twitter he offers tweets on how to find a job in the web industry, hiring tips and tricks, along with professional career advice.
Jim Durbin a.k.a. @smheadhunter – A social media recruiter, Jim is active on the Twitter scene. His goal is to partner “social media gurus” with the right companies. Jim responds to followers’ questions, offers general recruiting advice and sends out “teaser” tweets for positions he thinks followers might be interested in.
Jennifer McClure a.k.a. @CincyRecruiter – Jennifer is an executive recruiter/coach. She often tweets out specific advice for job seekers, including words not to use on a resume. Jennifer is accessible to her followers and tweets about non-recruiting topics as well.
Laurie DesAutels a.k.a. @biotechjobs – Laurie recruits a specific niche, looking for senior level leaders in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Her tweet stream includes links to other job search resources and lots of Twitter information.
There are still many people out there that have no idea what Twitter is nor will ever have a need to use it. However, some go as far as paying money to be listed on Twitter’s 100 suggested users list that is offered to those that sign up on Twitter. Note, I have not received a list when I signed up just some months ago which suggests that much has changed in the Twitter world since then.
Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis who already has over 60,000 earned followers is offering Twitter $250,000 to lock in a spot on the suggested list for two years and he is dead serious. Some reports suggest that people on the suggested list can gain over 10,000 new followers per day which offers a great marketing opportunity. I wonder: Doesn’t your message get lost among those hundreds of tweets that we all receive each day unless one is targeting those that “live” on Twitter. I also wonder: How many of those following you want to hear your message and how many start following you, just so you follow them back? I read somewhere that Twitter is this year’s Second Life and is riding a huge wave that will crash on the beach in a year or so (just like they all do). Just look at Myspace. I believe that as twitter gets more and more commercial the real geegs will run somewhere else and then markers will follow them there. It is a never-ending cycle. If I were Jason Calacanis, I will only make that deal for one year. But who am I to predict the future…:)
What is Twitter: It is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post their latest updates.
